The Chronicles of a Mousehunter 2
by Karides
Summary: The Dojo was destroyed, and a friend dead. With her only lead gone, Catherine was forced to return to Gnawnia where she was convicted for a crime she did not commit. Can Catherine Plankrun escape the condemnation of the people and save them from a dark conspiracy that seek to unleash past evils? All while she still struggles to find her father and reunite her family. OC. Profanity
1. Chapter 1

**2Chapter 1: Gnawnia Throne Room - Trial**

"Catherine Plankrun. Today, you have been summoned to stand trial before the King and his Ministers for your alleged crime against the Kingdom, which includes destroying the Gnawnian artefact - the Pagoda, and depriving future mousehunters their Arcane Rods of Never Yielding Mystery as well as leaving the Kingdom the massive bill to clean up the mess up to causing the death of one of our greatest Knight, Larry Jenkins."

Jordan Ringdas, the Minister for Law and Regulations paused to draw in a new mouthful of breath, before releasing a huge sigh and looking over the painfully long scroll in his hands once more.

"The charges against you detailed property damage of up to approximately twenty-six million three hundred thousand and fifty-six gold pieces, not including the aforementioned lost of potential weapons against the mice of uncountable opportunity cost."

There was an audible gasp. "No.. Twenty six million... How am I going to raise twenty-six million? Oh, Jack..." Then, a thud signified that the speaker had collapsed, causing a significant rustle as people panicked over the commotion.

"ORDER. I will have ORDER!" The King bellowed as he placed his hand over his head, not wanting to look at the scene any longer. "Bring Mrs. Plankrun out to have some fresh air."

When it was done and all was settled, he gave the signal for the Minister to once more continue.

"Catherine Plankrun, you are also charged with the murder of one Larry Jenkins..."

"SHE WAS INNOCENT. IT WAS THE ACOLYTE!"

"NONSENCE Zugzwang. Acolytes are behind the Portal at the Forbidden Grove. One could not simply be around to take the blame off the girl just like that. LOGIC FORBIDS IT!" Jordan snapped irritably. "Now stop being a madman and let me continue this trial. This trial had been delayed long enough since the funeral."

"I SAY THE TRUTH! THE ACOLYTE WAS THERE! WHY THE HELL WOULD SHE BRING LARRY BACK THEN? WHAT WAS HER MOTIVE? YOU JUST WANT SOMEBODY TO BLAME!"

"Do not force me to evict you from the castle Mister Zugzwang." It was the King this time, danger evident in his words.

That shut Crevice up just fine.

Jordan rolled his eyes. "As I was saying, Catherine Plankrun, you are also charged with the alleged murder of one Larry Jenkins. Do you plead guilty?"

All attention was upon the kneeling form of the girl as the sentence was finished. Her head was down, and her hair had covered her eyes but in the silence that followed it was undeniable that she had been crying. Tears stained her cheeks and her body convulsed from time to time as she sniffed back her tears, penetrating the still air of the room as the rest watched on with bated breath. All in all, she was a total wreck.

"Do you plead guilty?" Jordan repeated uncaringly.

"I plead guilty." Catherine finally said.

That one sentence caused the whole chamber to erupt into chaos. First, there were distinct murmurs of shock at the confession, then expressions of disbelief, but the loudest of them alll would be of one Crevice Zugzwang who had decided to delight all present with his colourful language.

"%#$ #$. I AM THE ONE. I KILLED LARRY, NOT HER! TAKE ME INSTEAD. $%#$#$# ARE YOU MAD, WOMAN? WHY THE $#$ # DID YOU ADMIT THAT? *^^%&("

The King of Gnawnia shook his head in disappointment. He had not want to believe that Plankrun of all people would have committed such a crime. He had even wished that Catherine would fervently deny the accusation, then the trial would have been put on hold and her on probation until more evidence had been unearthed. Now that she had gone and confessed, effectively damning her to a lifetime in the Stockades. Such a waste of potential.

"ARREST ME INSTEAD! I WAS THE ONE! I WAS THE ONE!" Crevice was still shouting like a raving madman even as the guards under Jordan's order dragged him out of the Throne room.

Oh, how he would like to pin the blame upon Zugzwang but no, an important witness had seen the boy with the knight before the events of the Dojo and it would had made more sense if the boy killed the knight right there and then. He had further testified that Catherine would be going to challenge the Master of the Dojo. Given that Larry had died in the Pinnacle Chamber and the Master of the Dojo was supposedly dead then, the only person who would have done the deed was Catherine, or had Crevice really killed Larry once he was inside? Or was an Acolyte mouse really there? No, it could not have been. The thoughts are maddening but it did not matter anymore. The girl confessed and it was all that matters.

"Catherine Plankrun, you are hereby sentenced to a lifetime in the King's Stockades. Your family would have to find a way to pay the debt you had to the King's Treasury. I declare the end of this trial." With a quick decisive re-scrolling of the parchment, Jordan Ringdas walked out of the room, his job done.

As the Room cleared and Catherine was hauled out by the guards to the dungeons below, the King of Gnawnia hummed a tune he did not know he knew as he went through what had happened again and again in his mind. Should he clarify with the witness again? The witness is in the castle after all, invited specially for this. Somehow a part of him did not want to admit that Catherine Plankrun was the culprit, but another was adamant about it.

Maybe he really should go talk with that shopkeeper once more. Maybe... maybe...

The King sighed with irritation as he gave up his thought processes.

What was the use asking things that would only beget the same answers? Etyloca is only a shopkeeper, not an omnipotent being that was somehow involved in all of this.

Yes, he affirmed himself, Etylcoa is only a mere shopkeeper, as he hummed the tune he did not know he knew again and again and again.


	2. Chapter 2

**2Chapter 2: King's Stockades - The sound of Silence**

It was too quiet, far too quiet for his liking.

The stockades had never been so quiet in his lifetime serving as a warden of this place. Usually, the dubious inhabitants of this place would have been crying and pleading for salvation and release from this wretched place, and the guards themselves do not stay a single moment more lest they too fall victim to the most feared that was engraved in the minds of every single prisoner. Not one who was released had their mind entirely intact when they left and perhaps it was intentionally done to discourage those hackers-to-be from treading down the same slippery slope.

There was no mad torturer from hell deep within the bowels of the dank place. There was no cruel whip master determined to strip your flesh piece by piece to the bones. No, there are only mice, mice that burned with vengeance against the now helpless humans who would gladly exterminate their kind when they were previously free.

In this place, mice had free reign. They bite and chew and gnawed where they could place their jaws on and even the lowly white mouse could inflict wounds that may or may not fester.

Many a banned hunter had died in this place, their bones forgotten and existence lost to the world. In fact, there was a rumour that a hunter died with approximately twenty-something million ill-gotten gains to her name which was buried along with her body in time. And to think Catherine Plankrun was condemned to a lifetime in this place.

The warden shuddered. The silence was unnerving. Not only did the prisoners fell silent, there were not a single sound of furious squeaking that would have accompanied the usual screams and groans of pain. It was as if the mice themselves knew that Catherine was coming and they had a nasty surprise in store for the girl. Why? He did not know, and was not about to find out.

Beckoning the two guards, he ordered them to throw the girl into an empty cell. The metal door clashed mercilessly even as Catherine hit the dirt ground in a boneless heap, and before the echo fades and silence settled back in, the three of them were already gone.

Silence.

Catherine Plankrun laid face-down upon the muck, listening to the silence.

"It was all my fault." She said to no one in particular.

The Dojo massacre, Mojo's and Larry's death, everything would not have happened if it was not for her.

Her mind was blank, for she no longer had the energy to ponder over anything. All she wanted to do was to sleep and perhaps never ever wake up.

Yet, it appears that the resident rodents have other plans. As Catherine lay there unmoving, a white mouse suddenly emerged from nowhere, catching the trained mousehunter's eye. Then a brown mouse appeared, followed by a grey, and a granite and a steel. Almost instinctively, she reached for her traps only to remember that she had none. They had been stripped from her. It was that instance she realised she was at the complete mercy of the mice she had once persecuted.

Fear mounted as the numbers of mice present in her cell grew, until she was literally surrounded by them. She did not dare move nor break the heavy silence, in case the rodents decided to swarm her there and then but she knew. They were relishing the moment they would savagely tear her limb from limb.

It was then an unfamiliar mouse joined the masses. This mouse was a peculiarity, donning both sword and shield as well as a suit of metallic armour. Its face was obscured by a hideous mask that struck fear into her very heart, but it was not just the mask that induces nightmares. The bearing of the mouse itself, the air around it and even its scent.

It all belonged to an executioner.

Catherine wanted to scream but she dared not. It was only then the Terror Knight spoke, shattering the silence once and for all.

"Catherine Plankrun. The Council had sentenced you to death. I come as the Hand of The Council to execute you."

At its word, the rodent mass surged forward in a frenzy towards the flailing girl as the rest of the prisoners watched the scene, horrified.

Not one of them was about to complain though.


	3. Chapter 3

**2Chapter 3: King's Stockades - Hope**

Just as it seems it was certain death for Catherine under the jaws of savage mice, fate had other plans. All Catherine felt was the shudder as the door to the stockades slammed open. All she heard was maniacal laughter. All she saw was a rectangular object been thrown in before chaos took over completely.

There was a flash, and then smoke and dust stirred to cloud the entire dungeon. Beams of orange and black instantly started to pour in, causing the cell to be instantaneously filled with squeaks and squeals of confusion.

And then all Catherine could smell was the charred and dying flesh of mice.

Suddenly, a tiny figure appeared in front her through the smoke, startling the girl. Yet, what greeted her was not the blood lusted face of a rodent, but a cute little fellow wearing a tiny black beret. Interestingly, it was carrying a crate that was twice its size and was seemingly beckoning Catherine to follow it as it danced nimbly in front of her face. It was almost amusing if the situation had not been that dire.

Catherine was about to heed the little mouse when a sudden nagging voice of suspicion rang through her mind at the latter's motives. Besides, she deserved to die to atone for what had been her mistake. It was instantly shot down a moment later when a voice not of her own echoed through her ears.

"He will help." The familiar sound of the wind told her. "Do not let Mojo's lesson be in vain."

It was all Catherine need to get back on her feet. Indeed, the Master of the Dojo had taught her how to live again. It would be extremely foolish to give up her will to live so easily when there are still things to be done.

"Nyahah woman. Crevice will laugh at how easily you give up and pick up on things. " Catherine muttered her best imitation of Crevice's mocking face. She rolled her eyes as she followed the mouse out of the cell under the cover of the smoke and dust with a spring in her steps . Her old self was back and this time, there will be no more emo-ing around.

Yet, a new voice roared above the chaos in a bid to retain order, this time belonging to the Terror Knight. "She is escaping! Stop her!"

It was in vain. The mouse swarm did not go far when an explosive base landed right on their feet and detonated, throwing up furry bodies with a spray of blood and steel fragments. Another was thrown and right after, there was another until all of a sudden, it was all silent. Amidst the fading dust and smoke, the terror knight stood impassively looking at the deciminated ranks of his underlings, the hard truth just penetrating his mind.

His mission had failed and he would fall from grace from the Hand of the Council should he report back. He would be at worst, killed and humiliated before the rest of his brethren. But no, he, Xylak, the greatest of the Terror Knights would never fail. With a fluid slash of his terrible blade, he started to slay the remaining survivors of his once great mouse swarm until only him and him alone remain. They were witnesses of his failure and for that they must die.

Xylak exited the cell when the last of his followers collapsed into a bloody heap, his red eyes glinting with a madness previously not there. He would complete his mission. He would have his prey.

He would not be denied.

************

"Such a cute little guy." Catherine murmured as she patted the little mouse now furiously working to sterilise and bandage whatever scratch or bite wounds she had been inflicted with supplies from his crate.

"His name is Haiti."

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "How did you know?"

"I just knew." Came the answer, which did not really answer the question.

There was an awkward silence between them as they rested in the obscure aclove they found in the tunnels, the only sound coming from the muffled clinking of bottles as Haiti rummaged through his crate.

"So, why did you come and save me?"

"What? I just kicked the door open, dropped a grenade or two and started shooting like craz..."

"No, I mean why, not how."

There was a distinct blush creeping up Crevice's cheeks.

"I.. uh.. I mean... that time Larry asked me to take care of you, so..."

Catherine searched her mind for the memory. "And when did he do that? I was there, and I did not hear anything of that sort."

"I...uh... Ah! He told me when our eyes met!" Crevice declared.

Upon Catherine's dubious look, he hastily added.

"Male communication, ya know."

Catherine did not reply to that.

* * *

"Here take this," Crevice said as he detached one of his portal guns and tossed it over to Catherine. "You need something to protect yourself with."

Catherine was taken aback in abrupt shock. Was that tender concern she just heard in his voice? What was with this Crevice Zugzwang? Did someone killed him and took over his identity? Catherine fiercely shook her head. Nah, it must be that male communication bullshit that he told her just now.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she noticed the boy staring at her peculiarly.

"Umm no...nothing?" She stuttered as she tried to hide the blush on her face.

Awkward.

The boy showed no sign of seeing her embarrassment however and instead took a small satchel out of his pocket.

"Here, take this too. It was lucky I took it before the King's men stripped your house for anything valuable. It belonged to you after all." He said.

Catherine could already guess what was in the pouch, and was not surprised when she fished out the only thing within - one half of a stone of the darkest black, the True Onyx Stone. As she stared into the pure darkness, she was forcefully reminded of Larry who had exchanged his life for this one stone. Tears begged to be released, but she hastily force them back. No, she had to be strong. She made that promise earlier.

But she couldn't restrain herself enough.

"I will miss you Larry." She whispered as she clutched the half- stone tightly in her hands.

All the melancholy was suddenly broken by a loud drawl. "Can we get a move on yet?"

There, at the entrance of the alcove, Crevice stood with an impatient look on his face. Haiti the Hope mouse was already on his shoulder with its huge crate. It seems as if the Old Crevice was back and was already pissed off with her.

"Ye.. yes. Coming!" Catherine broke into an apologetic smile before rushing towards them.

While Larry had died and Gnawnia had forsaken her, she still had someone she could trust. Her father was still out there somewhere and her mother would be patiently waiting at home for both of their return. Somehow, she would find a way to right that wrong. Somehow, she would return home and she would introduce Crevice and Haiti to both her parents.

Indeed. She was not alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**2Chapter 4: Catacombs - Keeper of the Light**

"Are you threatening me?" The haggard mouse asked unflinchingly.

The figure only inched his blade closer to the mouse's throat in response. "I do believe I am, _Keeper_."

The emphasis on its rank was not missed as the Keeper mouse raised its eyebrow, be it in amusement, disgust or whatever else.

"And what do you request of me, Hand of Council?" The sarcasm in the Keeper's words were not missed. "Surely the Hand of the Council do not need the help of someone as lowly as me unless..."

"Shut up!" The terror knight mouse bristle with rage. "I might be part of the Forgotten, but don't forget you hold no sway over me!"

"But I have more power than you right now." As if to make his point, dozens of skeleton mice suddenly rose from the ground, drawing their blades of bone in the process. Waving its hand flippantly at the wary knight, the Keeper voice took on a more dangerous tone.

"I will help you find who you want, but I will get the boy, while you the girl. Do you have a problem with that?" It was more a rhetoric question than anything and Xylak refused to answer. The only thing he did was to return his sword to its sheath as a sign of his consent.

"Good boy. That is my good boy..."

The Terror Knight harrumphed and exited the place, the clink of his armour echoing his fury. When the sound had finally faded in the winding caverns of the Catacombs, the Keeper mouse breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was a dangerous conversation, Kilaxis." He told himself as his hand went up to massage the searing wound that had appeared around his neck, although the blade never once touched him. "He had a terrible aura."

"Terrible... Terrible..." It was all he said as Kilaxis lumbered out of the alcove and into the Catacombs with his legion of skeleton mice behind him.

*******

It was not often that one gets to go around the insides of a real Catacomb and even the hunters who did lower themselves into the depths from the mausoleum only stayed within close vicinity of the trapsmith there. Therefore, Catherine took the opportunity to take in the sights and sounds of the deeper caverns. The dripping water, the stalactites and stalagmites, the moss-laden walls, the...

"There is nothing to see, so can you hurry up?" Came Crevice's irritated voice.

"It's my first time down here, and I am excited. So give me a break." Catherine snapped.

Crevice turned back and gave an incredulous look, shining the dim light of the Ambrosial portal on her face.

"You are excited to be down here in a dark and dank place with nobody but a mouse and a boy for company?"

"I had enough of hearing only stories about these wonderful places from my parents. Can't I experience them on my own?" Catherine replied indignantly.

However, the retort she knew was coming was not what she had expected. Before the girl realised what was happening, Crevice had closed up the distance between them and grabbed her, pushing her forcefully into a small depression in the cavern walls. The crate Haiti was holding smashed right into her shoulder, but before she could even yelp in pain, a hand was already over her mouth.

For that instance, her eyes widened in fear and all she could think was...

"Gerrr orff moi yerr PERRVERT!"

"Shut. Up." Crevice hissed. Catherine quailed into silence just as a flickering light turned the corner in front and revealed a mouse holding a pickaxe and a shovel. The rodent paused in confusion. It was sure it heard something just now. Was that just its imagination? Perhaps. It gave a rodent's imitation of a shrug and turned to head back where it came from.

Yet even as it walked away, Catherine could see Haiti already holding an empty bottle that she had no idea where it got from (the crate perhaps? ), rushing towards it from behind. To its credit, the forgotten mouse noticed an assailant coming but it was still too late. There was tremendous crash of shattering glass and in no time, the Scavenger mouse was on the ground out cold.

"Good job Haiti, and look you found something for me." Crevice endearingly patted the Hope mouse and took the gift. A closer look on his hand revealed a small piece of black coal that Catherine presume the Scavenger mouse dropped.

"Oh, I do know a use for this."

Even if it was just a flash, Catherine swore she saw a crazed grin on the boy's face that sent a shiver down her spine. Somehow, she did not want to know what use he had for the coal. Crevice then fished out a small stand of light blue metal from nowhere that looked as if it was once a trap, an Obelisk of Slumber to be precise.

"For months I have searched for this and now my ARSENAL IS COMPLETE!" He declared like a megalomaniac while he put the coal on the stand.

There was an intense light and when it subsided, all Catherine could see was Crevice holding the newly transformed trap and shooting dangerous flames randomly while laughing like an idiot, correction, a pyromanical idiot.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! UNLIMITED FLAMETHROWER WORKS!"


	5. Chapter 5

**2Chapter 5: Catacombs - Lets split up, team!**

Catherine tentatively kept a few steps behind the boy, afraid to approach in case Crevice had half a mind to think of her as a flammable object and sic his new toy on her. Anything is possible with Crevice Zugzwang, now even more so when he is high on crack. For a split second just now, Catherine had thought he was about to...

No, she shook her head furiously. Don't go thinking down the wrong lane.

It was then she noticed the boy in front of her had stopped.

"Crevice?" She questioned.

The boy only raised his Obelisk of Incineration up high above his head. "Look up and tell me what you see."

Catherine obliged, and was greeted by an almost inconspicuous blob of green goo that was hanging precariously from the ceiling. If not for the strong flame of the Obelisk, she could have missed it entirely. Suddenly, a mouse head perked out from the blob and gave a rodent's equivalent of being surprised before it quickly slinked out of the light and into the shadows. Crevice gave it no rest as he splashed fire all over the top where it disappeared to. Before long, the Ooze mouse dropped onto the ground in a charred blob.

"We were being watched."

"So our enemy would be here about anytime soon?" That was somewhat obvious.

"If you put it that way, yes. Ooze mice usually form packs in the dozens. I won't be surprised if that Terror Knight got another mouse swarm in this caverns hunting for us."

There was a moment of pause.

"Don't even think of splitting up. I am not that idiotic to let us wander off alone in enemy territory with little to no equipment." Crevice said as he waved his Obelisk around dangerously.

Catherine took one look at the flamethrower and hastily swallowed down what she was about to say. "Su...sure."

"Now, if you would take that Sinister Portal I gave you and watch my back..."

******

True enough, the first "mouse" emerged from the long passageways that winded around the underground complex that is the catacombs just five minutes later. It was a grotesque mutant of a spider-mouse hybrid that leads one to think what other horrors might be hidden within the shadowy caverns.

The moment the rodent sighted the couple, it attacked without hesitation, spewing a think slimy fiber that is reminiscent of the spider's webbing. However, it was a mistake. With a flourish of his Obelisk, Crevice let loose a fury of flames that caught on to the webbing and travelled back to the sender where it burned the spider mouse whole.

Yet, even as it fell, dozens more of its kind showed themselves, instantly spewing the same stuff that its fallen comrade had. Most of them were burned down by Crevice's flames, but in the end it was in vain. One webbing shot out towards him like a deadly net and it was too late for him to change his target. Just as he thought the web would reach him, a shot of black struck it into two.

Crevice blinked.

"No need to say thanks." Catherine replied, a wide grin adorning her face as she returned to blasting one of the spider mice off the ledge it was standing on.

Crevice blinked again. "Uh.. sure."

*******

Catherine was in high spirits. She had just saved the neck of that jerk Crevice and now he owe her a debt. Besides, that dumbstruck face was priceless. Now, if she only has her horn so that she could put all these mice underneath her power. That would certainly ease things up

"Crevice, lend me your horn."  
"What?"  
"I said, I am going to sound your horn for you. This time, you cover me."

It took a second for Crevice to register what Catherine had said, and another for him to nod reluctantly. A change of hands later, a song of war echoed throughout the Catacombs accompanying the roar of flames that was from the Obelisk of Incineration. One by one, the spider mice stopped attacking and one by one, they were incinerated into dust.

Yet, even as victory was in sight, another group of spiders appeared from a hidden passageway to the left. The web they spew shot true and latched upon the girl who was concentrating on the music. It took her breath away and before she could even scream, she was already reeled into the handspawswhatever of the spider mice. The next moment, they had begun to spin a cocoon around her as spiders did their prey and so deadly and efficient were their spinets that Catherine did not even hear the shout that ensued.

In a blink of an eye, the Catherine-cocoon was whisked away by the spider hordes.

"Oh my god." Crevice could not believe that Catherine was stolen from him just like that. "#* #$ IT!"

The spider mice freed from the trance were retreating, their now obvious objective completed.

"GOD DAMNIT CATHERINE!"

Crevice immediately tried to follow, but his path was instead blocked by a lone mouse of bone. Without a word, he drew out his portal with the intention of blasting it into bits but was stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hasty, aren't you Zugzwang?" A new more matured voice pierced the air. "Don't worry about the girl. Someone else just wanted to see her, and I wanted to see you."

"Who are you? Show yourself."

"I think not, Zugzwang. I am Kilaxis, Keeper of the Catacombs and the Gate to Infinity. My power lies not in brute strength but in controlling my minions." The moment the word minions reverberated throughout the caves, a legion of skeleton mice unveiled themselves from the shadows and drew their swords of bone.

Menace was apparent in their lifeless hollow eyes.

"I shall enjoy playing with you."

**********

Catherine struggled again to get free of the bonds that encased her within but it was far too strong to break free. She felt helpless as she laid there, exhausted from all the exertions. The horn was not making it any better as it pressed painfully against her skin. Stupid girl, dumb girl, now Crevice is going to laugh at you for being captured after he comes and rescue you from this mess. He will come, wouldn't he? Catherine's heart sank as she remembered the dozens of spider mice they were facing before she was caught by the web.

Suddenly, the cocoon split open and was torn away causing Catherine to be blinded by the abrupt light. Light? Wait a second. The catacombs had no light. She quickly forced her eyes to adjust and was greeted by an alcove that looked like a shop. It would be a pretty ordinary cave shop alright, if not for the dead bodies that littered the floor. Broken traps and bent horns accompanied the bodies. Even the blood looked fresh.

"This is the catacombs general store?" Catherine gasped in disbelief.

"Yes." A familiar voice sounded, causing the girl to spin about in shock and fear. There, with a blade that still dripped of blood, stood the Terror Knight mouse that had proclaimed itself her executioner. For a moment there, Catherine finally noticed how frightening long gashes ran through the bodies of the dead as well as the stone walls of the ruined shop.

"You... killed them." It was more a statement than a question.

"And you caused their death."

"What?" Disbelief.

"If you had just died back then. They would not have died." The tone was chilling to the bone.

"And they would have died in vain, because you will now be dead anyway."


	6. Chapter 6

**2Chapter6: Catacombs - To dance with Flames**

Crevice cocked an eyebrow. This enemy was definitely one enemy that is different from the rodents he met in the past. Yet, hiding behind the backs of his underlings would mean that the Kilaxis or whatever is physically weak. If he can somehow find out the Keeper mouse's location, this battle will be over. Very quickly.

"Play? How are you going to play when you are not here yourself?"

"No need to hurry, young one. I need to measure your strength." The voice came again. "It does me neither good nor fun if I am to show myself before this battle is almost done."

Now this threw Crevice off track. So was this mouse just testing if he is good enough to face him or is there more than meets the eye to the ultimate objective of this so-called Keeper? To hell with the mind games, time was not on his side now.

"Then bring it on."

There was no reply, as a single bone soldier stepped forward towards Crevice. It was a waste of time for Crevice had already smashed its skull with a swift kick of his feet.

"Is that an insult to me, Keeper?" Crevice called out.

"No." This time, a dozen of skeleton mice entered an aggressive stance and charged. Crevice, wasting no time, blasted the whole of them down with his portal-gun. Not one managed to reach him.

"Why Zugzwang?" The voice echoed. "Why do you not use magic? Do you need me to pull my whole legion on you before you are willing to show me the miracles that you are able to weave?"

Crevice spat. "And why are you so concerned over my proficiency in the arcane, _mouse_?"

Again there no reply. However, the whole mouse legion that had shown their ghastly skeleton face instantly took up arms. By the looks of it, Kilaxis intends to force the magic out of him. Too bad Catherine took his horn away with her when she got kidnapped, making this much much harder than it would have been.

"I know what you are thinking Zugzwang but it would have been the same. My control over the Forgotten is unlike what you had ever seen. The horn, while powerful, is inconsequential before the might of my power."

"So you feel like speaking now, eh?" Crevice deliberately mocked. Inwardly, he was sweating bullets. The mouse could not have guessed his thoughts, right? Mind games, he reminded himself. These were all mind games.

There was however no time for lapses in his concentration, for the first bone warrior came with its deadly blade aswinging. Crevice nimbly sidestepped before returning a blast of orange fire right in its face. He then went on to throw an explosive base right in the middle of the enemy ranks, all the while blasting shots with one hand and spewing fiery death on the other.

However, it seemed that there was some foul necromancy involved, for with every skeleton mice he cut down, another raised from the dirt to challenge him again. Only those that Crevice burnt to crisp stayed dead. Yet, even as he struggled to repel the horde, dark shadows swooped down upon him from above. It was only a stroke of luck and a moments difference that left a long gash running down his left forearm and not a hole in his left eye. Turning to face the gargoyle mouse responsible, Crevice mouthed a silent "F you" before blasting it out of the air with inhumane precision.

Regardless, the mob was endless. Crevice could even see a Keeper's assistant buffed body among the fray. It was fortunate he did, for a coffin came flying his way seconds later when Crevice finally managed to wear a cute, alien-like hairband on his head amidst all the constant battling.

"NVMRC FORCEFIELD ACTIVATE!"

An orange globe-like lightscreen abruptly burst into space around the boy, pushing any immediate mouse away and stopping the coffin dead in its track.

"You forced me to wear this, mouse, and for that, you and your goons will pay."

With that, Crevice set his Obelisk of Incineration in front of him where it levitated within the forcefield. Then, there was a bright red flare that briefly lit up the whole catacombs and when it faded, deadly red flames had enveloped the sphere entirely. Mice of all kind shied away from the intense heat and bright glare and any foolish skeleton mouse that touches the ball of fire was devoured by the incandescence. All that showed that Crevice was alive inside were two gleaming eyes.

"Interesting. By changing the intensity of the trap with relevance to oneself so that one is levitating fire within the force field to build a destructive defence while still repelling the flames to prevent hurt. This amplification... I believed I only seen this ingenuity back in my ancestors' time with Plank..."

"Shut up. Enough talk." Crevice snapped, interrupting the Keeper mouse in his monologue. "Let's dance."

And he blazed through the ranks of the Forgotten mice, disintegrating them by the dozens by just running, no, flying into them. It took no longer than ten seconds for Crevice to completely wipe out all of the rodents in the area.

The Keeper, on the other hand, was not pleased.

"No... this can't be. Why? Why can't you just show me your magic, so that I can understand and unravel them?"  
"So that you can undo the runes my grandfather painstakingly set into the Gates? No thanks."

"Why..." The Keeper mouse suddenly stopped as he noticed Crevice's gleaming eyes settling right upon him. The flare just now must have given away his location. "Shit!"

"Go shit in hell."

Kilaxis hurriedly tried an attempt to summon more minions to his side and succeeded in calling at least a dozen more skeletons but it was all in vain. There was a sudden explosion of air as a pulse of scorching flames forcefully compressed and burst from the NVMRC force field in a three hundred and sixty degrees arc around the boy.

The last thing Kilaxis saw was the wave of fire cascading down all around him in all its fury.


	7. Chapter 7

**2Chapter 7: Catacombs - When the Wind blows and the Earth rumbles**

Haiti squeaked, whiskers twitching as he scurries down the long passageway in the Catacombs. Suddenly, he stopped at an intersection and sniffed the air in front of him with his trembling nose. Then, he darted off to the right down another winding cave. Never once did he thought the crate he was holding heavy as he rushed down the path, bottles and equipment jingling precariously in the box. Haiti had a mission to fulfil and fulfill he would. Behind him, a loud explosion shook the whole caverns but Haiti ignored it and continued on.

Until he reached an obstacle. Haiti skidded to a halt as he surveyed the mountain of stone that stood in his way. The cave-in had only happened recently and it was probably done by the recent explosion that Crevice might or might not have a hand in.

Haiti sighed an equivalent of a mouse's sigh, "Squeak... squeak!"

Dropping his crate reluctantly, the Hope mouse scrambled up the rock pile to the top and began searching for a hole to dig through from. Eventually he found a point and began to claw as fast his tiny paws could. Actually, he could squeeze through the gap with some difficultly already, but he could and would not abandon his crate behind, right? A Hope mouse is not a Hope mouse without a crate.

Before long, the hole was big enough, and the Hope mouse was on his way again down the cavern path. All would be well, right? Unless another obstacle came into his way. What he did not expect however, was another mouse standing right in his path just as he turned the corner. The mouse was small and hooded and was very, very deadly. There, the Reaper mouse stood, its gigantic scythe of death resting upon its shoulder as though it was already expecting the Hope mouse to pass by the place.

The Reaper, though sensing Haiti, made no hostile moves.

"Squeak. Squeak. Squeakkkk."  
"Squeak. Squeakkk." Haiti replied. "Squeakkk. Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak!"

"Squeeaakk!"

Perhaps it was something Haiti said, for the Reaper mouse instantly went into attack position as it levelled its scythe dangerously in front of him. Haiti, on the other hand put down his crate for the second time and drew a bottle of alcohol from it, brandishing it like a baseball bat.

"Squeak."

And the Hope mouse leapt, swinging his bottle down towards the Reaper as he narrowly escaped the fatal swipe of the scythe. The reaper sidestepped in the nick of time, leaving Haiti to miss his attack and fly past, crashing into the dirt ground a few feet away. Giving the Hope mouse no time to recover, the Reaper swung down its scythe with the intention of impaling its opponent upon the sharp tip, only to meet the glass bottle held defensively in front of the other rodent.

"Squeak!" Haiti squeaked as he pushed the Reaper mouse away with all his strength before getting up again on his paws.

The Reaper was shaken slightly by the sudden outburst, but regained its bearing fairly quickly. It then counterattacked with another horizontal swipe of its scythe which was expertly blocked by Haiti's bottle. Suddenly, a furry foot flew across its vision and before it knew what was happening, it could taste the dirt in its mouth. The blasted Hope mouse had took the opening to give it a painful kick across the face.

"Squeak... squeak... SQUEAK!" The Reaper roared, this time utterly pissed. Sprining back onto its feet, it held its dreadful scythe of Death in front it and a cold gust of air blew as dark energies gathered upon the vicious weapon. Judging from the looks of it, there seems to be no escape.

Despite the overwhelming odds, Haiti still held his bottle defiantly in front of him with the intent of catching whatever the Reaper mouse will sent his way. Even when the deadly horizontal cresent of black was unleashed and the blast impacted upon the alcohol bottle, the Hope mouse still stood firm, locked in the struggle for dominance between Bottle and Death.

At first, it seems that the bottle is able to withstand the energy blast, but soon cracks began to edge out from the point of contact. It took no more than three seconds for the bottle to shatter and the splintering of glass to mark the Hope mouse's death.

But Death did not come. Instead, Haiti felt a warm breeze ruffled his fur and a gentle presence standing or rather, floating in front of him.

"Squeak?" Haiti squeaked, confused.

The Sylph mouse serenely levitated, and this time it was the Reaper mouse who struggled to stand on its feet against what apparently seems to be a strong current of air sent at it.

"Do it, brother."

Without needing to be told twice, Haiti rushed to his crate, drawing out yet another bottle of alcohol. This s bottle was special however, as it had a rope leading out of the bottle neck. Then, Haiti drew out a match from within the crate and with a flourish lit the match and then subsequently the petrol bomb.

It took a well aimed toss later for the Reaper mouse to burst into blue fire and disintegrate into nothing.

Then, for a third time, Haiti the Hope mouse was scurrying down the catacombs with his crate held above his head, his mission waiting to be fulfilled.


	8. Chapter 8

**2Chapter 8: Town of Gnawnia - Truth unto Death**

Jordan Ringdas slumped into his comfy chair, exhausted. The King had just sent him to confiscate the Plankrun properties and he did so as ruthlessly as he could muster. His cold facade did not gave way even once even when Mrs Plankrun was sobbing the whole time they took anything valuable away.

Too bad for her, he thought. Blame her own daughter for committing such a stupid thing as to destroy the whole Dojo and kill off Sir Larry while she was at it. Now, the girl must be rotting underneath in the Stockades. As he thought, Jordan gave an involuntary shudder. He had heard of the horrors for quite some time and tried very hard not to think about it although it would still haunt him in his sleep. His compassion berated him for throwing a helpless girl in there, but his amoral side insist that he did what he was suppose to do.

The Law is the absolute truth, or is it?

"Please turn off the music." He requested, to anyone in the room, be it squire or page.

Many aspects of the case had pointed to inconsistency, those which he had picked up but nobody else did. Even the King was oblivious to these glaring holes. Firstly, Larry Jenkins was Catherine Plankrun's mentor, and it was very hard to imagine that frail wreck of a girl committing any murder, much less planned large scale destruction. Sure, there had been powerful traps in her arsenal but Jordan was doubtful that it could cause as much as a hole in the pagoda infrastructure.

Then, there was Zugzwang's declaration of an Acolyte on scene. Naturally, there was no proof that he was actually correct. However, there is no reason to forfeit the boy's words instantly. Indeed, if an acolyte mouse was present, no matter how unnatural, much of the case - the destruction, the deaths, could have been reasonably explained. As they always say, when there is no fire there will never be smoke. Rumours had always been based on facts.

There was a reason the boy accused the Acolyte mouse and only the Acolyte mouse of this atrocity when there are countless other mice for him to blame.

Then, that brings the question to something too terrible to contrive. Is Plankrun's Trap as secure as they thought it would have been? Had they just damned an innocent girl indefinitely to the dungeons based on assumptions and the words of a mere shopkeeper alone?

This is not Law, this is a biased conspiracy!

"Turn off the music damn it. It is affecting my thinking." Jordan Ringdas irritably snapped.

Silence answered him.

For the first time since he entered the room, Jordan Ringdas surveyed and saw nobody except himself. A quick glance to the side told him that the gramophone was not on and there were certainly no spectres singing haunted melodies to him in broad daylight.

Then why was he hearing music he should not be hearing? And why was it so alluring?

Had he gone insane?

Jordan immediately flung himself out of his room and into the hallway, bumping into a servant boy. As he stood to steady himself, he could see the lifeless orbs that were the boy's eyes. It was as if he was in a daze. It was as if... the boy's will had been stolen away. The next person he met, a patrol guard, was exactly the same.

Jordan Ringdas was not a fool. Even though he was but a minister of Law and Regulations, he knew things when he saw them.

"Magic" He spat.

Had he been like that as well? IS THE KING LIKE THIS AS WELL?

Outrageous.

This is unforgivable. Someone had been controlling the whole castle and none of them had been aware of it. In an instant, Jordan's mind went into overdrive, listing possible suspects and eliminating them by heart. Finally, his thoughts rested upon the first and only person he could think could do such a thing. It had to be him. Nobody else would have the means to employ such powerful magic and perhaps this person was also responsible for the fiasco of a trial...

"Looking for me?"

Jordan halted in his tracks, stunned.

"Surprising. One person had a strong enough will to defy my power. Granted, I had it spread thin, but it is surprising indeed."

"You... I knew it." Jordan somehow found his voice. "You were behind everything."

"And so?"

Unconsciously, Jordan found himself dropping to his knees. A huge pressure was crushing him from above, and that goddamned music was getting louder and louder. _Magic is serious business_, a part of him mused. The other struggled as he felt himself being dragged into a sea of indescribable lightness. No, not like that. If he submit now, then it would be all over and he will be back under the magic's control. He has to fight. The Truth must be revealed.

Somehow or another, Jordan Ringdas managed to get up to his feet and draw his sword through sheer force of will. The song was deafening now and red hot blood could be seen trickling out of his ears, but the man did not care.

"Tell me, scum! In the name of the King, tell me why you are doing this!"

For the second time, Jordan dropped back onto his knees as the power crushing him increased tenfold.

"You are trembling so badly. Give it up and return back to your dream. I promise it will be sweet." The accursed voice came. Simultaneously, an invisible merciless force slammed down upon the man, breaking his posture and forcing him flat upon the ground.

"Damn... argh... I need to know... the Truth... Tell me... the Truth..."

Suddenly, the Law Minister was dimly aware that his sword was no longer in his hands. Under the intense pressure of the arcane, he could only inch his face sideways ever so slightly, just enough to catch a glimpse of his sword arcing high up in the air.

A few seconds later, a sickening squelch echoed down the hallway.

"No." The shopkeeper said.


	9. Chapter 9

**2Chapter 9: Catacombs General Store – Survive**

Catherine tripped, her footing lost on a dead body as she attempted to back away from the overbearing malice emitting from the imposing creature before her.

On instinct, she armed Crevice's Sinister Portal and was levelling it in front of her in a bid to defend herself first, only to see the trap unexpectedly burst into smithereens. A rush of cold air caressed her left cheek and the next instant her head felt lighter. A puff of what was once part of her hair scattered across her rapidly widening eyes.

"What... you..." stuttered the girl as a cut seared across her cheek and began to ooze blood.

"What about me, human?" The Terror Knight stood, his imposing stance striking a chord of fear into Catherine's heart. Without a second word, he slashed despite being out of range.

Normally, any other person would laugh at the apparent stupidity of attacking out of range but not Catherine. Something was dangerously wrong with the mouse's sword and her mind screamed at her to get the %&$^ out of the way. God bless her reflexes when a vicious crack split open at where she was just a moment before. It all but confirmed for the mouse-hunter what kinds of terror the Terror Knight mouse could inflict. Actually, she berated herself, the scars of battle the General Store bore should have told her already.

Add on the fact that her only weapon laid in pieces around her, there was only one way to go.

"Sorry, uh... Ihavesomeotherimportantbusiness. Ciao!" Catherine rattled off in a mock pleasant tone before breaking to her right. She managed to roll under the cover of the store's counter when the mouse slashed again. This time, tiny rocks rained down upon the girl as an uneven line drew itself horizontally on the wall above. It was strangely beautiful, the way the merciless force etched itself upon the granite. Then again, humans had always been fascinated by destruction.

_This is bad,_ Catherine thought. Then she heard the slow muffled sound of footsteps navigating their way towards her position. Glancing around, she realised she had trapped herself in a corner. Wrong move.

_Oh great, this is doubly bad._

If she stayed, she would definitely be dead. Catherine Plankrun immediately dashed out of her hiding place, and promptly tripped on yet another body. Again, the mouse's attack missed, the line craving itself inches away from the girl's head. Before another slash could head her way, Catherine wasted no time in scrambling to her feet and ducking behind the nearest wooden shelf.

"Hiding, human? How do you feel being hunted?"

"Excelle..EEKKKK!"

A vicious blade suddenly erupted from the shelf just right beside her waist, scaring the girl out of her wits. It would have severed Catherine into half if she had not retained enough of her mind to use Crevice's Horn to parry. There and then, the fight between the two evolved into a weird weapon wrestle; Sword versus Horn, Mouse versus Girl, with a Shelf in between.

Already, Catherine could feel the sword's terrible aura slicing through her shirt's fabric and into her abdomen. A sick burning sensation seared at where the blade never touched and blood began to stain the side of her shirt red. It was weakening her; the strain and stress of both the events before and right then were taking their toll on her. Bit by bit, her strength ebbed away until a temporary flash of blackness took hold of her vision and she collapsed in a crumpled heap onto the ground.

It was very much coincidental and fortunate that her opponent withdrew his blade right at the time Catherine's strength gave way. The mouse immediately followed up by cleaving the shelf horizontally into two, missing the collapsed girl by a hair breadth.

"#* &!( #$$." The Terror Knight mouse cursed.

Catherine never heard the mouse, for her semi-conscious attention was all placed on a blue piece of paper that had fluttered down to her side.

How could anyone be that lucky? Thrice, thrice had his prey evaded his attack and it was frustrating Xylak to no end. Nevertheless, the foolish girl had taken refuge behind a flimsy wooden object and Xylak took great pleasure in teaching her how laughable a shield the shelf made.

"Hiding, human? How do you feel being hunted?"

"Excelle..."

And Xylak thrust, taking advantage of the lull in the girl's caution and earning him a scream pleasant to his ears. Yet it was not what he wanted. He wanted the girl's death cry. Gripping his blade with both paws, the Terror Knight moved to slice the shelf and the girl behind it into two, only to meet a resistance in the form of metal.

Metal? It must have been the horn the girl was holding before. So she still had the wits around her to block his surprise blade.

Yet, it was of no consequences, for he knew that the damage had been done. The longer they were entangled in this, the better the situation would turn out for him. Then, all he had to do now was to draw back his sword and cleaved the shelf in the other direction to finish the job.

The... F$%#

&%&%^%

$#^ %$%^ ^$#%!##% %

"#* &!( #$$" Xylak spat, his rage unable to be expressed by expletives.

The girl had dodged his attack AGAIN, by FAINTING at the most CRUCIAL MOMENT. Some goddamn deity must have been protecting this goddamn human this whole time. No, she had to die. He would make sure of it. In fact, he would impale his sword on her head and then split the whole thing into two to ensure her absolute death.

Xylak kicked away the debris that had fallen over his prey and what greeted him was not what he had expected. A pair of determined eyes stared back into his, but the crux was not with the eyes. It was the strange warped metal thing that the girl held in her hands that held the Terror Knight's attention.

"ACRO-HORN, ACTIVATE!"


	10. Chapter 10

**2Chapter 10: Catacombs General Store – Survive II**

A haunted howl echoed throughout the ruined shop as the Terror Knight mouse clutched his ears in pain, his sword forgotten on the stone ground. Blood seeped through the rodent's paws, an obvious sign that his ear drums had been painfully ruptured. The Plankrun girl had somehow crafted a weapon right before his very eyes and used it against him.

There she stood, a Hunter's Horn in her firm grasp. However, this horn was different, characterised by the jet black half-stone right in the centre of the instrument. The metal there twisted all around the stone, resulting in an empty space where the stone itself levitated. How this horn is going to produce sound still remains to be seen, but the fact remained that it had indeed done that and blasted his eardrums off in the process.

_How?_ Xylak mentally lamented. _A weapon from nowhere?_

His inward cry went unanswered. The next moment, the bell of the living Horn flattened into a fine sharp edge and Catherine Plankrun swung it down.

Blood spurted onto the girl's face.

Her dazed eyes looked on as the Terror Knight's body split into two and began their slow descent to the floor, joining the rest of the cold dead that littered the shop.

"I... I..."

Then, she collapsed onto her knees. "I..."

The words of apology just could not come out. She had just brutally decapitated a living thing in cold blood. Sure, she had killed dozens of mice in the past, but this time it was a living animal close to her size that could talk and even show its emotions. Should she feel ashamed? Should she instead feel righteous in this avenging of the deaths of so many innocents?

The blood felt warm. Its blood felt warm.

It was all the girl could think of.

She could barely notice her bloodstained hand holding the Acro-horn moving on its own and would have stabbed her own self with its lethal blade if a bottle had not came flying and knocked the mouse-hunter out cold.

The next moment that Catherine woke up to, she was lying against the cave wall with two familiar beings by her side. As usual, the Hope mouse was busy bandaging her wounds with his supplies while the Sylph was levitating in front of her, staring intently into her eyes. It was a surprise to see the latter, but Catherine could not care less.

"Sylph...Haiti..." Catherine muttered weakly.

_Hush, child. You need to rest. It is okay now._

It was then all that had happened came rushing back to her and the dam of emotions finally broke. Catherine Plankrun abruptly grabbed both mice into a hug and started to break down.

"Squeeakk! SQUUEEAKKK!" Haiti squeaked in protest at the interruption to his unfinished job, but he soon quietened down as the sobbing grew louder and louder, joining its fellow brother in providing whatever little comfort they could offer.

_He could not die. _

_He was too awesome to die. _

_No. He would survive and find a way out of this. _

_But the rocks were heavy. His body could not hold on anymore. He had crawled as much as possible through the various cracks in the rock wall and now he was stuck, his retreat cut off and nowhere else to go. _

_Being buried alive sucks, but he could not just die._

_He could not. There was still so much to do._

_So much to see._

_And Her. He had to go back to Her._

_He was dying._

_No. He could not die._

_He could not..._

Crevice woke up suddenly, instantly forcing himself into sitting position. It was then he realised various things. Firstly, he was naked. Secondly, he was on top of a sterile white table with dozens of strange long tubes attached to him. Thirdly, there were a number of people present in this weird chamber, all of them looking at his way.

He screamed.

"What do you mean, I am in Digby?" Crevice Zugzwang asked incredulously, after getting dressed and taken off the multitude of tubes, of course.

A man dressed in the traditional white coat of a scientist stood facing him. His greying hair seemed to indicate some form of authority within the complex.

"Surely you must had remembered what you had done, Mr. Zugzwang. Our scientists here detected a huge disturbance around the Catacombs area not too long ago. Normally, we would not touch the area of the Gnomes but the magnitude of the cave-in warrants an investigation. So we drilled our way there."

He paused to stare at the boy quizzically, as if he was some kind of a test subject.

"And we found you, Mr. Zugzwang, _along with dozens of dead mice._"

Crevice glared back into the man's beady eyes, not missing the emphasis that was placed on the last sentence. "What are you trying to imply?"

"Nothing, Mr. Zugzwang." The man laughingly waved Crevice off. "Absolutely nothing."

"I, Gregain Surge, am merely intrigued by your destructive ability, if our analysis proves to be correct."

"And your analysis should tell you that not once did I use magic, if that is what you mean." Crevice snapped, before storming away in an attempt to get out of the situation.

This did not stop the scientist from calling out to his retreating back.

"Feel free to wander around in Digby, Mr. Zugzwang. In fact, consider patronising our stores, but please behave. Otherwise we will be forced to... put you down."

Crevice did not give an acknowledgement that he had heard, but nevertheless, the man broke into a wide grin.

"Add him to the blacklist." Gregain remarked off to the darkness after Crevice had disappeared from view.


	11. Chapter 11

**2Chapter 11: Catacombs General Store – Sin Splitting**

Catherine Plankrun did not know for how long she slept for, but she did know how she woke. Various loud voices shook her out of her hazy stupor, seemingly to come from the world above.

"I heard news the Store was attacked!"

"Yea, we are just about to enter down the hole to check it out."

"Why are you guys still standing around the entrance for then?"

"Cowards"

"This is the Alpha force of the Knights of Gnawnia. Give way. God knows the mice at the Mausoleum had been delaying our rescue efforts for long enough"

Her very first instinct was to reach out to them, to call out to them, to be free from this mind-numbing exhaustion that wracked her entire filthy body. Then, the heavy sound of people dropping down the hole shook her to back to her common sense.

She could not be seen.

She was an escaped convict.

A person, some random mouse-hunter she did not know, suddenly came into her line of vision. Both of them froze at once, a look of shock etched across the boy's face. His eyes seemed to run down from the girl's face to become fixated upon the bloodstained horn-blade that was in her hand. It took a glance downwards for Catherine to realise the implications of the situation. Perhaps the horn-blade was not really needed, an abstract part of her mind mused. The dried blood on her was more than enough to give the wrong signal.

"Wait... I didn't..." She croaked, but it was still too late to stop the damning words that followed.

"CATHERINE PLANKRUN IS HERE. OH GOD. SHE KILLED THE ENTIRE STORE." The boy yelled, lips trembling even as he backed away fearfully. "SHE ^%$%^#$ KILLED THE ENTIRE STORE!"

Catherine did not know what to do. She had to stop him. He was going to draw the others here. She will be found out and she would be hauled back into the hellhole of a place they called the Stockades. She had to silence him.

And so she ran the boy through with the horn-blade, drowning him in his own half-formed words forever.

Catherine blinked.

Did she just do what she thought she did? No, the male mouse hunter was still alive, shouting and raving like a madman a distance away. It took the girl a second to realise in abject horror that she had brandished her horn, about to do what exactly flashed across her mind a moment earlier.

Disgust gave way to confusion before turning into desperation.

As the boy was joined by various other unfamiliar faces, her only thought left was to get out away from the scene, away from all this senseless absurdity, away from the people's accusing looks that pierced right through her, judging, condemning and finally finding her guilty of which she did not do.

They were all blaming her. Again.

Barely registering the sound of swords being drawn, the girl bent down to scoop up the duo of still sleeping mice into her embrace and ran.

"Follow her. She must not get away! The King demands her head!"

"Damn, she ran into one of those tunnels."

"This one splits. We have to split up people, but keep close. We don't want mice getting you before she do. "

"How could she kill all these people in cold blood?"

"I don't know sonny, but unbelievable things happens once in a while."

The rampage of footsteps and the occasional clank of armour filled the air of the underground caverns for the first time in Gnawnia history as the group searched through the winding catacombs in a massive manhunt for one Catherine Plankrun. Nobody noticed a small figure hiding in the shadows waiting for everyone to pass her by before slinking away and up the ladder that leads into the sunlight.

The moment the girl reached the world above, she broke away and fled in the direction of the nearby forest, leaving those who had stayed behind on the surface stunned into disbelief at the sudden appearance of one they did not expect. She did not dare stop nor slow down until she ran past the edge of the forest and into the safety of the cover of trees.

Even then, it took a rock to break her momentum and cause her to crash into the dirt floor. There she laid, gasping for much needed air as the adrenaline faded away and she regained much of her composure. It was then the severity of her situation hit her. A frightened squeaked from Haiti only reconfirmed her fear.

For all places she had to run to, she just had to choose to flee into the Forbidden Forest.

"Now they are everywhere." Someone spat.

Crevice watched bemusedly as the Digby geologist threw his hat down and stomped on it before making his exit in obvious frustration. The core sample the man was studying was sporting a pair of twitching ears which had popped up like folded sails and a tail was in plain sight from the bottom. It took no longer than five seconds for the patrolling Digby Drill-bots to crush it into oblivion.

It was interesting how the Underground Town of Digby was operated. The town itself consist of an extremely large chamber in about hundreds of meters in dimensions aptly named the Central with four arm-like tunnels leading to other smaller areas, one of which Crevice had came from. It was called the Ward apparently. The place where mouse hunters entered the town was called the Head and there, an ela-ve-tor would transport visitors down here. Central itself was split into three sections, one where the shops were offering their wares and the other where research was being carried out. The third, which was a level under the one where the former two were located, was the Quarters where food and resting places were served to weary travellers.

The transparency of Digby's research was somewhat surprising though. Crevice had half-expected their experiments to be carried out in secrecy rather than in broad daylight and his suspicions were more or less confirmed when he was told that visitors were barred from accessing any areas other than the Central under the threat of death via spinning drills.

Nothing of interest they say but Crevice knew better. The Ward itself already had things the Zugzwang had never seen before, metallic tools and instruments of many kinds that can slice through flesh and bone as easily as a warm knife through butter. He himself had been hooked up to something they called... Anae... Anaestatic... or whatever that still numbs his body even after so many hours. There was even a machine that pours out brown liquid that gave off a soothing bitter aroma that Crevice strangely found enticing.

It must be poison, all of them.

Who knows what secrets they had hidden in the other chambers? Crevice gave a slight shudder as he looked to replace the Sinister Portal he had given Catherine earlier among the curious gizmos the merchants had for sale.


	12. Chapter -308

**2Chapter -308: ? – Cruel Salvation Denial**

"Oh god," a girl giggled. "You are just so slow."

Her face bobbed teasingly in front of his, a cruel grin plastered over her features. He only smiled weakly back at the girl who, when she realised she could not get a reaction she wanted, turned and ran off to join the group in front of her, eager to be part of the conversation the others were having.

They were planning to go into the meadows to play that day and like any other day, he had tagged along, wanting to be part of the crowd. Yet, he was never included in their conversation. He could only listen and only listen he could. Try as he might, the chance to participate in the group's exchange had always eluded him.

They ignored him, isolated him and threw him behind, except for only when they asked him to hurry up.

"Don't blame him, Cissilia. It wasn't his fault he is like that." Another boy sounded. Was that concern, or was it cold sarcasm?

The group broke into merciless laughter.

"But he was just so slow." the girl, Cissilia, instantly retorted.

The others just shrugged at the naive girl and soon enough, they returned back to their previous discussion. There was another round of laughter and by then he was already forgotten.

He did not mind though for these were normal, part of the everyday life he had always experienced ever since he was born. For now he was contented only to listen and perhaps entertain those who were bored like Cissilia. One day, if he tried hard enough, he might be able to make it into their fold. They would then laugh and talk with him and he could even make friends who would not mind his physical limitations.

He would be acknowledged. He would stand with them as an equal.

He would not be alone anymore.

That was why he persisted. Even though Mother and Father were reluctant to let him out of the house, he pled and begged, if only to follow the rest of his peers into their daily adventures.

"I demand payment!" The man repeated in frustration, his knuckles white from the forceful grip on his instrument.

"For what, vagrant?"

"For ridding your town of those pests! That is what!" He brandished his horn threateningly, unable to contain his rage any longer. "We had a deal! An agreement!"

"We had no such agreement." The reply carried only the slightest tinge of guilt and shame.

The man spoke again, this time disbelief evident in his tone. "The deal is that I remove your town of the rodents in return for a thousand gold coins!"

"Silence." The word slammed into the man's face.

The sound of a sword being drawn immediately followed the temporary lapse of shock. "By my word, banish this man from the town forever. How dare he suggest that I could not deal with a mere rat problem!"

"So be it, betrayer of promises." The man spat as he was being led away by the guards.

"I will return to get what I was due and that which you had feared and denied would return to haunt you and your people forever."

Then, when they reached their destination, they will always do a certain tradition.

"Come on people, let's run to the other end of the meadow!" The leader of the group shouted. "The last person is a loser!"

At that, the group broke apart, many of them rushing ahead to prove their worth. He too moved to run, desperate to prove himself to the group. Yet, he could never run like the rest. They looked as if they were having fun in the friendly competition, each one of them sprinting neck to neck in a bid to reach the end first.

But it was not like that for him. He was tied down, weighted down by burdens cursed on him by birth. By the time all of them had finished, he was only past the halfway mark, struggling and pushing himself forward.

"Run! Come on, run!" They shouted and encouraged with a twisted smile upon their faces. "Can't you run? Run!"

"That plank of yours, can't you use it to run?"

Each and every callous word carved themselves into his heart, brutally stabbing and ripping it apart. However, he still continued, determined to make it to the other end. He could do it. He will do it, no matter how much they were mocking him.

The melody was so soothing. He could barely feel himself rising out from his warm bed and getting his crutch. A moment later, he on the streets following a man alongside dozens of the other children, some who were as young as five. All of them were in their nightclothes and they were all following to the tune of the magic the man was playing from his horn.

The man was familiar and it took awhile for him to realise that it was the Piper that had been chased out of the town a few weeks ago.

"Where was he bringing us?" He found himself asking dreamily to another child at the back of the procession.

"To Heaven. Paradise." It was the only reply he got. "Where we will all be happy forever."

The moment he heard it, it was like a wish come true.

And so he limped behind with a drive never seen before, just like those times where he followed his peers. At first, it was manageable but it was not until they reached the outskirts of the town when the pace suddenly got faster and he found himself lagging more and more. From far back where he was, he could see the procession entering into the nearby hill and disappearing as though they were being swallowed up.

The boy hastily brushed away tears on his cheeks with a rough swipe of his arm. Somehow he knew he must get there. He had to. He was not happy here. The cruel teasing, the heartless mockery and all the pitiful stares he was getting, he wanted none of them. All he wanted was to be accepted and appreciated. He wanted to be happy. He wanted Salvation.

"Run! Come on, run!" They shouted and encouraged with a twisted smile upon their faces. "Can't you run? Run!"

"Plankrun. Plankrun. Plankrun. Plankrun. Plankrun."

"That plank of yours, can't you use it to run?"

"Plankrun. Plankrun. Plankrun. Plankrun. Plankrun."

He tried, like he always did. The right leg went out first before he swung his left to catch his weight, and he failed spectacularly, like he always had. His left foot crumbled almost immediately, tripping him and denying him what he had wanted most.

Nobody looked back. Nobody cared. Nobody stopped to help when he fell onto the ground, for they were all gone to their happiness.

He was forsaken, abandoned and rejected.

When they found him the next morning, he was laying face-down on the dirt, muttering "Paradise" over and over again.

Years later, when the boy had grown up and had a family and eventually grew old and sick on his deathbed, he would then call his son and his son's son to his bedside and tell them a story with a weird gleam in his eyes.

"My boys, have you ever heard of Paradise?"


	13. Chapter 13

**2Chapter 13: Assorted locations – Bridging the gap**

"Pleasure to meet you again." The grey-haired man greeted.

Somehow, he met face to face with this whatshisname Surge again. Crevice couldn't help but inwardly groan. Why can't people just leave him in peace and quiet? Meanwhile, others around him were suddenly giving him unreadable stares, as though he is some kind of museum object to be gawked at.

Crevice gave him a look of contempt. "Oh. Hai Gregoire Surge."

"Gregain Surge." The man corrected. "I prefer to be called by my real name."

"- he is, speaking to the Director like that?" A sudden background conversation caught Crevice's ear. This explains the stares all right. However, no matter who Gregain Surge is, Crevice has no ideas of entertaining a man with a odd fascination about his other abilities. Yet, as he turned to leave, the other man grabbed his arm.

"You might want to hear what I will say, mister Zugzwang."

"Then shoot."

"I would like to employ your help."

Crevice raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What thing is it that the Director of Digby needs a boy to help him?"

"A mouse." Gregain Surge replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Crevice on the other hand only stared back at him.

"No." The boy replied flatly.

"I will make it worth your while."

At the mousehunter's questioning look, Surge moved forward to whisper his end of the deal. Onlookers have no idea what they were talking about, but all they know is that at the end of the conversation, the young heir to the Zugzwang name followed the Director away.

"Its name is Sylph."

"Oh, you are so cute, you Green Floating Stuff Toy."

"Its name is Sylph!"

"And you, Brown Little Stuff Toy, want to be my pet?"

"Squeak?"

"Its name is Haiti! HAITI!"

"How is it, Brown Little Stuff Toy?"

Catherine Plankrun facepalmed. This Spring girl was definitely more deranged than she had originally thought. The days trapped in this accursed place must have affected her a lot and Catherine inwardly shuddered at the realisation. Would she ever find a way out?

"Hey Spring."

"Hey Yo!" The other girl chirped.

"Do you actually know where we are going to?" Catherine asked.

"Nope." Spring happily replied.

Catherine Plankrun slammed her head against a nearby tree trunk.

"So, the mouse I need to take out for you." Crevice casually asked as he tailed the Director through one of the long secret corridors of the Digby complex. "What type is it?"

Gregain Surge only chuckled. "I am sure it will be quite a challenge for you, mister Zugzwang. It is a one of a kind after all."

"The Big Bad Burrough mouse." He announced.

To his credit, Crevice's facial expression remained the same. Gregain on the other hand, looked a bit disappointed at the boy's lack of reaction.

"Of course, you won't be taking it on alone." Gregain hastily continued. "This thing is hundreds of feet tall. We had been tunnelling down towards its estimated location for quite some time now. What we gathered from the seismic activity underneath indicates that this little bugger resides in an underground cavern that our teams would be breaking into about anytime now."

"And then, we will send in a group of hunters to neutralise..."

"And my role is?" Crevice interrupted, annoyance evident in his voice.

"You are our trump card, mister Zugzwang." The director paused for a dramatic moment. "When all else fails, you might be the only hope that stands between a bringer of destruction and all those living on the surface."

The boy only sighed. "Listen. When this over, I want that custom Digby Drillbot you promised."

Sounds of laughter filled the hallways for a moment.

"Of course, mister Zugzwang. Of course."

One moment, they were trekking through the harsh jungle terrain, and suddenly the both of them stumbled into a clearing. Regardless to say, they fell not very nicely onto the mossy ground.

"Ahhhhh you are sitting on me!" Spring shrieked, flailing her arms about widely.

"Shut up. You are the one on top of me!"

"You are sitting on -" Spring abruptly cut off, causing Catherine to turn her gaze towards whatever the girl was staring at.

What greeted them was not just a simple clearing. A dozen or so Gate Guardian mice toiled as they tend to the numerous moss-covered stone boulders that lay scattered across the place. A closer, more detailed look only revealed those "boulders" to be what they really were – inactive Golem mice.

Catherine gasped, while Spring opened her mouth to scream.

Only to be gagged by a pile of cloth a moment later.

"Squeak." Haiti pointed to the side as he tried to hold the gag in place.

_Those things have not noticed us yet. We should move to the undergrowth. Quickly._

The four of them wasted no time. Just as they hid themselves between the bushes and plants, flames burst into existence within the furnaces of each of the golems and red eyes blinked as these mighty beings awake from their slumber. Catherine was so glued to the whole process that she didn't feel someone tapping her shoulders.

"Catherine... Catherine." A small tug on her sleeves showed Spring's troubled expression looking at her back.

"What is it?"

The mousehunter swerved around, only to meet face-to-face with a Keeper mouse.

"Oh no."

"Pleasure to meet -" The mouse started, but a _shingz_ later, a sharp purple blade was instantly at its throat. "-you."

The eyes of the Keeper mouse swivelled down to glance at the deadly blade that could end its life any moment before coming back up to stare straight into Catherine's. A ghost of a smile crept across its face.

"You will not want to kill me." The Keeper nonchalantly continued. "After all, I am your only hope out of here."

There was a slight pause as the girls both blinked, registering the implication of the mouse's words, as well as all the danger that could come with them. What if it is a trap? And what if it is not?

"Then you shall spit it out right now." Catherine threatened. "And tell me why there is so much activity going around in the Groves."

The Keeper only grinned as it used a finger to gently push away the vicious Hornblade.

"So have you noticed? The Forgotten are preparing for war."

War.

"Yes. War." The Keeper said, seemingly able to read the girl's thoughts. "But no matter, it is relatively unimportant to you right now. I have been sent to help you get out."

"By who?" Catherine questioned.

"Someone on your side. Now, follow me." The mouse gestured before turning to leave.

As the girls stepped into pace behind the mysterious Keeper, Catherine could not help but noticed that the Grove had by now been filled with ominous flashes of purple and the sound of heavy footsteps.


	14. Chapter 14

**2Chapter14: Forbidden Grove – Beyond the Dark Portal**

The Forbidden Grove had, in Spring's own words, "opened". To be more precise, it was the gate in the center that had opened. Every time it does that, the whole of the Grove will undergo drastic changes. Flashes of purple light will illuminate the forest every few minutes and all of its slumbering inhabitants will suddenly go into increased activity, she explained.

In other words, there will be about twice as many mice out there at the present moment.

"These mice came through the gate? I thought the seal on the Acolyte Realm was firmly locked in place?" Catherine asked in bewilderment, not wanting to comprehend any situation in which her grandfather's Trap had been compromised.

"Not as secure as you think, Cathy" Spring shrugged. "But the temporal differences between the realms are preventing the Acolytes from crossing over."

She then pursed her lips.

"Not that it stops the Liches and Wights though. Ethereal beings seemed to follow different rules from physical beings. The golems on the other hand were just reactivated from our side, that's all."

Catherine Plankrun turned her head to stare incredulously at the other girl.

"How did you know this much?"

She was tempted to added a "I thought you are just a crazy girl." to her sentence, but decided not to. It would appear that Spring was not as simple a person she had originally believed. In any case, she did not answer her question and the two of them lapse into silence as they followed the Keeper mouse.

Until they stepped into another clearing that was unlike that they had seen before. The whole patch of ground was scorched black, and skeletons of human and mice alike littered the place. Yet, what proved to be the most interesting would be the huge double-door gate that stood right at the center. It was open, revealing a chaotic vortex of purple energy that seems to draw one into its depths. Ancient archaic runes adorned the charred metallic doors themselves, covering the whole structure and even the ground a few feet radius around it.

Catherine gasped at the twisted grandeur of it all, while Spring went mad.

"No! You are not making me go through this!" She moved to run away only to be tackled onto the ground, correction, crashing right into the girl next to her. "Never! NOT AGAIN!"

Her fits of anger instantly dissolve as she turned into a sobbing wreck a moment later, muttering the same things over and over again, all the while staring blankly at the mysterious gate that was Plankrun's greatest work. It was without doubt that Spring had somehow entered the portal before and managed to get out, making Catherine wonder the actual length of time Spring had been trapped within this desolated place.

"No... not again... Please no... It hurts..."

"Spring! It's me. It's alright. Spring!"

"No... it hurts... I finally got out... no...

"Spring, you are out. You are not in there anymore."

"It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts..."

"I wonder what happened to her." The Plankrun descendant was nearly in tears herself.

_Trauma. _It was the Slyph. _The forbidden realm holds horrors that nobody could ever comprehend._

"Squeak!" Even Haiti was at a loss at what to do regarding the broken girl.

Catherine looked helplessly at Spring before turning to the one who had led them here.

"Sometimes, the only way out is in, human." The Keeper mouse gravely spoke. "Your fate beckons through this portal."

For that instant, the silence was eerie, with only the occasional rambling from Spring interjecting through the dead air. Then, a soft green glow shimmered as it gently nudged Catherine on the shoulders.

_We are here, young Plankrun. Wherever you go, we will follow._

"Squeak!" Haiti squeaked in acknowledgment at Sylph's words. He then went on to a fervent gesturing session that involves flexing his own mouse arms. "Squeak! Squeaak!"

So in the end, her path required her to enter her ancestor's work

"Keeper. Will you please take Spring out of here to safety? I don't know why you are helping us but please do this as a favour to me."

It was then Catherine seemed to catch a slight hint of rage and sadness that shone just for the briefest moment within the aged mouse's eyes.

"I was cursed, human, by the one who sent for you. Through no will of my own I had helped you humans and for that I am being hunted among my kind. This is the only way I can continue to live."

The Keeper mouse coughed.

"But no matter. I will ensure the safety of the other girl as long as my candle burn. This boon I will grant you, Catherine Plankrun."

The latter smiled as she softly muttered "Thank you."

Then with a flourish, the mousehunter known as Catherine Plankrun scooped her two loyal mice into her bosom and courageously stepped through into the purple void. It was as though the Gate had been waiting for her to do so, for as soon as she disappeared within, the portal instantly closed. Loud creaking sounds echoed throughout the clearing as the doors slowly moved themselves shut, their engraved runes shining as intensely as ever.

Soon, the Grove returned back to what it had been before, without the purple flashes or the heavy thumping of _things_ moving through the forest. However, not all remained the same.

"Oh? Something escaped." The Keeper mouse spoke to himself even as a form began to coalesce into the shape of a Wight mouse right in front of them."

"This is a hard boon indeed."

The first thing Catherine saw after stepping through the portal was sand. Sand, and more sand. It would appear that she had entered a never-ending desert that stretched beyond the horizon. Behind her a gate similar to that within the forbidden grove stood, only to be covered in moss and apparent age. It looked it had not been touched for months, but didn't she just stepped through it only a moment earlier?

Weird.

Right in her field of vision a huge tower loomed in the distance, standing tall and proud as the only infrastructure within sight in this godforsaken landscape. So awed was she that the mousehunter failed to notice the horde that had already surrounded her.

When she noticed and drew her only weapon, it was too late.

"Meeaattt..."

A gorgon mouse flung itself at Catherine, and immediately met its end at the surface of an alcohol bottle. This opened an opportunity for the girl to recover from her initial shock bring her Acrohorn down, clearing a path out of her predicament.

_Run!_ The Sylph urged. _I will help._

And so she ran. Every step she took, Catherine threw the mouse horde behind. Normally she could never have outran them, especially those floating spectres that defies the laws of physics, but it seems that she had the wind beneath her feet and it was all thanks to Sylph.

Hence it was with no time at all did she reach the Tower. Up close, it was a few times larger than it had appeared before. A thick fog hung about the structure and was undoubtedly the source of the one covering the entire region as well. Upon closer inspection, there seems to be no way in.

"Oh great." Catherine groaned as she peered back onto the encroaching mouse horde that yearned to devour her. "I am stuck."

_Makeuswhole..._

"What? Is that you Sylph?" Only a shake of the wind elemental mouse' s head answered.

"Great.. now I am hearing..."

_Embraceus... CatherinePlankrun..._

"-things."

She panicked. Catherine began to search every nook and cranny for an entrance, any hole at all that would get her into the tower. A carnivorous horde is approaching and maddening whispers are beginning to make themselves heard.

_Whydoyoudenyus..._

In that split second, a mental image flashed across her eyes, bearing a face so pained and agonized that flesh was hanging off it.

Catherine turned, if only by instinct, to meet face to face with a spectre mouse. The ghoulish familiar expression upon it was enough for her to freak out and scream. Luckily a swift gust of wind later, said spectre dissipated into bits of ectoplasm, the only evidence of its encounter lingering within Catherine's mind eye.

It was then a rectangular shape cut itself upon the smooth metallic walls of the tower and slid upwards to reveal a door. The girl instantly ran through, having no wish to stay outside a moment longer, into pitch darkness. The door whence she came from slid back into place, blocking her way out.

"God.. damnit. That was close…"

Without warning, a small candle light flickered on and illuminated a woman's face against the glow. Locks of white hair lay about, creating numerous dancing shadows as the woman broke into a sad smile.

"Hello, dear. Welcome to Paradise."


	15. Chapter 15

**2Chapter 15: Paradise**

"Para...dise?" Catherine Plankrun asked.

Not only is "Paradise" a complete mockery of the place she was in, it also did not follow the terminology she and all her fellow mouse hunters had known. Acolyte Realm, Forbidden Realm, Trap of Infinity, all these definitely do not contribute towards a "Paradise". And yet, this woman just referred to this hellhole an eden.

As the candle flickered weakly, Catherine could barely make out the woman's features. Wrinkles adorned her wizened face, telling much about her old age. However, what captured Catherine's attention were the woman's sad eyes. They seemed to be so full of regret and weariness as they stare right into her own. There also seems to be a little bit of contempt directed at Catherine's earlier question.

Had she accidentally stepped on her tail?

_Joinus..._

"Quick, there is no time. We must get to the safe room." She spoke, breaking their eye contact before disappearing into a crevice on her right.

"W...wait!"

Without much of choice, the girl could only follow. As they made their way through the damp and dark corridors, the woman would occasionally turn and disappear into a corner, prompting the girl behind to speed up lest she loses sight of the candle and be lost within the dark labyrinth forever.

After what seems like an eternity they finally reached a door, or at least what Catherine believed was a door without a handle. Just as she was about to question the sanity of opening it, a worn wooden stick-like object suddenly appeared in the old woman's hand. She waved it and with a loud "clang" the oaken door opened. What happened immediately after was that the woman unceremoniously shoved Catherine through.

Light blinded her, along with numerous unfocused faces.

"Whoa! A newcomer."

"Another idiot hunter trying her luck in the realm again."

"Oh you are back, Cissilia."

"Have you found more food?"

When the glare finally subsided as she grew accustomed, she was surprised to find herself in a brightly lit room inhabited by people. Male, female, young and old were scattered about the room, either lounging around or tidying the place which had apparently been transformed into makeshift living quarters. All of them however, sported the same look of resignation at their grim fate.

"Do you have food?" One of the men who had come to them when they entered said, at which her saviour unstrapped a bag from her side that he gladly took before going back to the others to distribute.

The woman on the other hand headed straight for a corner that seems to Catherine to be specially prepared for her use. She then slumped down to rest, twiddling her flute in her hands.

"Don't mind her miss. Cissilia might be a little cold but she had saved all of us here, including you." Another man remarked, making himself known.

"Ah.. it's alright."

"I must say it is not common to see a girl with two mice as pets around here." The man chuckled. "So miss, what brings you to come and visit this desolated place? Surely you must have thought that hunting an Acolyte is as easy as pie?"

He then mournfully laughed at his own words.

Catherine blinked. Her eyes widen as it finally hit her that the people here were all once mouse-hunters, trapped here after entering the portal at the Forbidden Grove for various reasons.

If that is the case, then they must have known Spring.

"Spring. Do you guys know of her?"

The man's look instantly changed and he gave Catherine a weird look. "Spring? That girl went crazy saying she wanted to get out. Then she ran away and was never seen again. Was she the reason you came into the Realm?"

Not exactly.

"If so, then she is probably dead, miss, and you wasted your own life as well. Everyone here is bound to go mad anyway. If it is not from the mice, then it is from the whispers that haunt our sleep." There was a tinge of bitterness in his voice. "Well, my name is Jas Patt if I remember it correctly."

"I am Catherine Plankrun. This is Slyph and -"

A flurry of whispers interrupted her and Catherine swore that even the woman from earlier jerked her head around instantly to give her an extremely shell-shocked look.

"_Plankrun_?" Her voice was hoarse, filled to the brim with disbelief.

In a second, the woman was up and right before Catherine.

"I... no... I..."

The young mousehunter's stutter was immediately interrupted by the old woman's hug. Moments later, mutters of "I'm sorry." was heard even as Catherine felt her shoulders become wet from presumably tears. For the record, Catherine only stood there stunned, not knowing what to do.

"Give the girl a break Cissilia. She isn't the Plankrun that designed this trap. She can't help us." A random voice said.

"Shut up, Eon. One can always hope she knows." Another voice came, this time female. "But what is wrong with Cissilia? She normally isn't like this."

It took a while for the others to pry the crying old woman from her and another for them to find her a place among them to rest. As Catherine lay down with her two mice, she involuntarily glanced at Cissilia. The old woman had said nothing when she returned back to her corner even with that outburst of unexpected behaviour. After all, nobody grab another person and cry on her shoulders when they had only just met.

Resolving to get down to the matter the next day, Catherine closed her eyes and prepared to sleep. As she drifted off into the realm of dreams, a line of thought lingered within her mind.

_So who had sent the Keeper to help her? _

"Sir! We have an emergency!"

"What?" He snarled back, irritated. "Can't you see I am talking to my distinguished guest?"

"My apologies sir! Our excavation team had breached the Caverns-"

The full implications of the messenger's words hit him in his face. "What? That was before schedule! The team isn't even ready yet!"

Just as he finished, the whole chamber shook with a violent rage, an omen that someone, or _something_ had been unleashed upon the world.

"Sir, our excavation team had been wiped out. The subject is already tunnelling towards the surface at an alarming rate! Please advise us on what to do next."

_Crash!_

He could not reply due to another tremor so strong that all three of them were un-footed and the lights in the metallic hallways flickered in phase with the seismic fury. Elsewhere, screams of panic could already be heard, echoing the sickening crunch of metal that reverberated throughout the place moments earlier. It took no longer than a few seconds for the lighting to fail and the crimson emergency lights to come on.

"Go find out and isolate the breach location!" He barked. "If that thing had hit one of our arms, seal it off immediately and post drillbots at the site in preparation for enemy boarding action! Evacuate all civili... no, the surface is too dangerous right now. Take them all down to our holding chamber, and give me an update on its location!

As the poor messenger scurried off to carry out his orders, Gregain Surge turned to Crevice Zugwang and gave him an indistinguishable look.

"And now, we are all sons of bitches."


	16. Chapter 16

**2Chapter 16: Digby – State of Emergency**

No sooner had Gregain Surge burst into the room did he yell for updates regarding the situation. Crevice followed closely behind into what he presumed is the control center for the town of Digby known as the Heart, bemused by how the seemingly unflappable man that had pulled him out of the rubble a while ago is now a panicked pile of nerves.

"What do you mean, we didn't do anything?" He barked into the face of a ragged man in mining gear, spittle flying everywhere. The man tried to retort, but was instantly cut off by more furious shouting from the livid man.

"Someone obviously did something. The subject would not have reacted to _nothing_." Gregain spat.

Another man in blue approached Surge tentatively with a piece of paper in his hands. "Sir, reports had come in that the mice are entering the town through the breach in the Ward. They are showing themselves and creating havoc. Our bots are containing them as we speak."

He seemed to paused for a moment to let the Director groan in peace before continuing.

"The subject had also reached the surface."

"Show me."

A large monitor in front of them which had been displaying other information and statistics suddenly flashed and changed into the familiar terrains of the Burroughs. However, a glaring hole had been opened in the soil and a large phallic thing protruded from it, writhing and trembling as it occasionally bent to strike at what seems to be ants. As the camera panned across the scene, It took Crevice a moment to realise what the "ants" actually were.

"They are humans." He gasped, as the realisation of how large the Big Bad Burrough that terrorised the surface would be penetrated his skull. The "ants" in the info-screen were actually valiant mousehunters in a desperate bid to bring down the monster that had appeared out of nowhere.

How are they going to kill such an abomination? It would seemed that Gregain Surge, Director of Digby shared the same sentiments.

Crevice jumped a little when the man abruptly turned to him and put his hands together in a plea. "My boy, it is all up to you now."

"Hell no!" Crevice instantly retorted.

"But you are the most powerful mousehunter among us..."

"You mean the only mousehunter, Surge." The boy cut in. "But no means no. This guy is out of my league."

Crevice turned to leave, only for his eyes to rest upon the info-screen. The camera had been zoomed in and was currently showing two young mousehunters, a boy and a girl, on the surface with the BBB. Shattered trap parts lay about them, signs of a futile battle and it seemed that the both of them had known as well. They had started to run towards the Bazaar but only went a short way before the girl tripped. The boy realised it too late. It was just a mere few seconds but when he had turned around, he could only watch as the mouse engulfed his friend in a swift powerful strike. His mouth shaped itself into an "O" and even though the info-screen had no audio, the scream of agony and denial reverberated throughout the entire control room.

Crevice stood there stunned. All that filled his mind were the last images of the girl. That tear-filled eyes, that scared expression... why? Why had they reminded him of one Catherine Plankrun?

"I... I will do it." Crevice finally said, causing Gregain Surge to look at him with a mixture of incredulity and relief.

"I am not doing this for you but for the innocents you might have endangered, _Director_."

His mind however, said something else.

_You have gone soft, Crevice Zugzwang._

He smirked as he strolled across the entrance into the Laboratory, pausing for just a moment to glance into its interior. Should he do something here as well? After all, the Monster mouse is easily riled up and always ready to wreck destruction if it means it could consume more.

Suddenly, it was done. He inwardly grinned at the ease of it all. Such simple minds these mice had, He wondered how it was even possible for them to become kings of their respective areas. All it took was a simple probe and they went on a mad attacking spree. It is no wonder they had such limited speech abilities.

However, it did not matter. So long they did their task well enough and occupy the Digby inhabitants for the time being, it was all he needed of these mindless brutes in his grand scheme of things. For now, he had an appointment to keep and there is nothing in his way, not Gnawnia, not Digby, that would be able stop him, much less grasp his plans.

For now, he shall enjoy the quiet before the storm as he walked towards his original destination, the frightened screams that had erupted from the Laboratory a moment later music to his ears.

The Trap of Infinity. The place where everything began.


	17. Chapter 17

**2Chapter 17: Digby – Ascend**

Crevice Zugzwang. Heir to the most powerful magician in the world and yet rebelliously denying his birth rights. Expert tactician as he should be, at least in chess. Originally only intended to stop by Digby for a period of time and re-gather his bearings before planning on the next logical step of action like he had always been doing. Getting thrust into the current situation was however, not according to his plan.

The monster let loosed a squeakish roar that shook the very earth beneath his feet.

People were running away from it and yet he was currently walking towards it like a suicidal fool, something the Zugzwangs were never known to be. Oh how mad his ancestors would be if they knew what he was doing right now.

They would turn in their grave.

As he neared, huge pit holes on the ground came into sight. It was as though the mouse itself had chomped even the earth when it went for the juicier pieces of walking, correction, running flesh. How in the good name of his grandfather is he going to bring this giant of a monstrosity down?

Crevice had no idea. He had never entered a situation where he had no idea what to do. In chess, control over the board and by extension, situation had always been very much important and now he felt he had just screwed himself up with a wrong move. Like a pawn, there was only one way forward and like a pawn, he will have to improvise or be forfeited.

At the very least, a sweet piece of trap awaits after he is finished with the job.

By then, the Big Bad Burroughs seemed to have noticed this puny human moving towards itself, acknowledging as it stopped its attack on fleeing humans and swerved to face the defiant. It bellowed again, spraying the mouse hunter with rodent spit and sand.

"What was I thinking?" Crevice chuckled as he stopped, looking up straight into the towering Big Bad Burroughs. "No trap is worth your life."

And the mouse swallowed him whole.

"Oh God." Gregain Surge buried his face into his hands. Soon after his words, the whole room fell silent.

On the monitor, a screen very clearly displayed the entire scene of Crevice walking up to the subject and then getting eaten whole. The place he stood promptly became a pothole that joined the rest as one more grave marker to the entire graveyard of massacre. Just like that, their best bet disappeared from the face of the earth.

"Oh God." Surge muttered again, not daring to look up back into the carnage-filled screen. "What have we done? What have _I_ done?"

"Was excavating the mouse to further our tunneling technology wrong after all? This recent discovery of a new breed of mice that lived underground had been so full of hope and expectations... so full of potential..."

"Si..sir, the subject is preparing to tunnel back into the ground." A control operator interrupted, his shaking voice fearful of what is to come. "Yo..your orders, s..sir?

Each and every one present in the room knew that the implication of this new development was very much dire. If it went back underground, it would become very hard to track. Who is to know which region it would go to next and terrorize? The death count would be undeniably high and the murderer, the cause, would be none other than Digby. Gregain Surge knew this. He also knew that their only chance lies right at the present moment. He knew that he had to act now.

"Activate Mobile mode." It was barely above a whisper.

"Sir?"

"The Transformer system. Do it. Bring us up to the surface and nuke the damned thing."

"Yes sir." The operator hastily acknowledged. The Transformer system had been a closely guarded secret of the town of Digby and only the Director had the power to authorize it. They might have been known as the Mobile town, but nobody ever knew why they were called the Mobile Town. The Transformer system was why. Once activated, the whole underground town of Digby will start its ascension to the surface, where she will transform into her true form – A giant Rhinobot easily the size of the Big Bad Burroughs itself. There had never been a need to unleash this weapon and it was only now that the need had arisen.

They had originally hoped the presence of Crevice Zugzwang would have dealt with the problem instead without the need to show their hand. After all, the Mobile mode was their ace in the hole and it would cost the town a whole metric ton of resources to even use it once. When it is over, the town will be effectively out of power for at least a whole week until the generators are repaired from the damage caused by the strain.

He began typing in the necessary commands, only to suddenly look up into the screen and gape. The director, confused by the sudden lack of movement, followed the man's gaze and was instantly bewildered by what he saw.

The Big Bad Burroughs mouse on the screen had suddenly collapsed onto the ground, flaccid. The next instant, it began writhing in obvious agony much to the incredulous stares of the whole control room. Red angry dots danced across the mouse's skin, fading only to reappear again more rapidly very much like a freak light show. For a while there, Gregain Surge thought that he might have gone insane from the stress.

Then, the rodent exploded, showering the vicinity with flaming bits of gore and ichor. Amidst all the death and destruction, a lone boy in tattered clothes and various degrees of injuries stood.

Crevice Zugzwang.

* * *

"No!" He futilely screamed at the monster. "NO!"

Before his very eyes, the huge abyss that was the mouth of the monster chomped down and swallowed Celine whole. His heart was frozen and as it sunk down towards the encroaching darkness of despair, he charged backwards hoping to save the situation through anything he could do.

It was all in vain. The giant mouse reared is ugly head backwards a moment later, leaving behind only a huge hole marking where his beloved had been standing before.

"Urgh... Celine…" For that instant, he felt sick. Why? They were just merely going after the new type of mice unveiled recently. Why did this have to happen? They... he and Celine would be getting engaged... and then marry and have kids and live happily ever after.

_Who is this worm to rob him of his happiness? _

He threw down his horn in disgust and collapsed onto his knees. He had sacrificed his Rhinobot trap earlier to give the two of them time to escape. There was nothing else he could do. He was helpless. He was tired. All that had happened must had been just a dream, no a nightmare. If he fell asleep, he would wake up to the smiling face of Celine again.

_Because it would eat him too_, that little voice in his subconscious spoke before it was crushed into oblivion by denial.

However, it seems as though the rodent was having other plans. Minutes passed, but nothing happened. He opened the tear-filled eyes he never knew when he had closed, only to see the giant mouse at attention, looking at something in particular, namely a boy walking straight towards it.

_That boy... is he mad? _

Before he could shout out a warning, the boy disappeared in a cloud of dust and debri as the mouse claimed yet another victim. The words got stuck in his throat and he could only stare at where the boy had been standing, just like with Celine.

"God." He gasped. "Why..."

He should do something. He had to. This had evolved into something far beyond himself and Celine. With a steeled heart, he took back up his abandoned horn with an iron grip and blew a song so fierce and so sad, if only to scream out all his hatred and despair. The mouse responded and it turned towards him, held entranced by the strong music.

It took all he could to keep the mouse under the spell until the whole area had been cleared out. Finally, when he had ensured that every last person had escaped to safety, he faltered and the magic was broken. The mouse instantaneously broke out of its trance and recognising the power behind the maker of the song, decided to flee. Yet, before it could withdraw back into the safety of the earth, it let loose a loud painful wail.

A bright red spot burned at its skin, followed by many others until it was covered with them. All the while, it thrashed on the ground with agony, as if trying to put out an internal fire it could not and that would be what claimed its life.

The Big Bad Burroughs exploded, showering him with ichor and gore. Around him, flaming bits of flesh fell as he gaped, not willing to believe his very eyes. Right at the place where the Big Bad Burroughs had been, the boy from earlier stood, covered in blood and various injuries that seemed to have been suffered from multiple fragmentation explosions.

As the boy made his way towards him, his eyes fell onto something, or rather, someone he was carrying.

"Celine..." He croaked.

With all his remaining strength, he rushed towards them, taking Celine into his own arms while trying to brush away his tears.

"Thank you. Thank you so much..." He said as he choked on his tears.

"I am sorry I could only save her. The rest were all... gone..."

Both of them knew what the boy meant. If it had been one moment too late, all that is left of his precious Celine would have been worm goo.

And for that, he was extremely grateful.


	18. Chapter 18

**2Chapter 18: The Acolyte Realm – Monument**

She walked down the narrow hallway, towards nowhere in particular. Where was she? What was she here for? Questions after questions buzzed through her mind as they demanded for answers, yet only darkness answered her lingering thoughts. Having no other choice she forged on forward, tearing across the the familiar paths of madness.

_Catherineplankrun..._

Catherine awoke with a start, her eyes met with a giant face right in front of her. She screamed.

"Hey ouch. Chill it." Jas Patter hastily replied, his hand going up to his ears to massage them. "My eardrums are going to burst."

"Whyareyousoclosetome." Catherine squeaked.

The other boy sheepishly scratched his head. "I'm sorry. I had to wake you up. You were muttering strange things in your sleep and I have seen enough people going mad from it to know it is not good for your health."

"I was?"

"Not just you, everyone here would if they slept long enough."

This time, a new voice joined the conversation. "Well, how did our resident Plankrun hold up for the night?"

"Good enough to scream in my ears, Eon." Jas offhandedly remarked.

Catherine blushed and hastily muttered off an apology, to which the boy waved off with a nonchalent shrug. Seeing that there was nothing else she could do, Catherine decided to change the topic.

"So, how long have you guys been in here?"

Immediately, both faces went dark. The already grim atmosphere became downright depressing. Catherine inwardly cringed at her tactlessness. If Spring herself had been trapped for about three years and at least half had been spent in this hellhole, who knows how long these people had spent in this realm, living on scraps and fear.

"A year for me." Eon said, looking away.

"I have been here for about four years." Jas finally replied.

"Oh... oh."

"You must be wondering how we survived. Well, Cissilia brings us food. Said that there is a kitchen somewhere underneath all this sand. Unbelievable, right? I couldn't believe it myself. I couldn't believe I am still here, that I walked into that damned portal years ago. I couldn't even believe I could not remember my own name! Jas... Jason... Goddamnit. " Out from his mouth rang a hollow laughter.

As his laughter faded, his eyes slowly unfocused, ending up only staring blankly ahead as though fixated upon something very important. His mouth moved and though soundless, Catherine could clearly hear him utter the same thing over and over again.

"My name. What is my name?"

"Leave that poor guy to his slipping sanity, Miss Plankrun. If you wish to know more, I suppose you should ask Miss Cissilia herself." Eon replied curtly. With that he turned and brought the other boy away.

Catherine sighed.

It was with mixed feelings that Catherine approached the old woman again. After all, who knows what she would do the next moment again. If the situation devolved to become like the previous time, she definitely would not know what to do.

"Yes?" Cahtherine jumped. Somehow, the old woman had already noticed her presence.

"Uh... Miss Cissilia?" She breathed in deeply in an effort to steady herself. "I... I am Catherine. I would like to ask you a question."

Cissilia only nodded in reply, which Catherine took to be an affirmative.

"Where are we?" It was a simple question, and yet Catherine was sure not everyone knew the answer to that. The simplest answer of all would be "Paradise" or "The Acolyte Realm" but what Catherine was interested in would be this particular tower structure they were in itself and if Jas had said that Cissilia often went to collect food, she of all people would definitely know.

The old woman did not reply and instead stared at Catherine in the eyes, as though judging her. Finally, the gaze was dropped and she spoke. When she spoke, a mixture of sadness and fondness shone in her very words

"This place was once my home,_ our _home. We were brought here by a man who became our father and he gave us this castle as a place to live in, to play in and to grow up in. It was our eden, our haven."

"Castle?" Catherine questioned but the old woman seemed not to hear, appearing to be immersed in her memories of her past.

"I remember there were once lush flowers and trees throughout this paradise. There were once beautiful lakes and hills... but... they were now all gone. Perhaps this was retribution. We should never have abandoned one of us and now as revenge for denying him his rightful salvation, we were all doomed. We should have waited... we should have helped..."

More question flooded Catherine's mind but before she could voice them, Cissilia had already continued on.

"One peaceful day, this demonic portal appeared. From it spewed legions and legions of these mice, led by their masters, the Acolytes. Where they went, they brought their cruel barren sand. We fought, but it was in vain. My friends, they all died. My home, it was all destroyed. What was finally left was this tower, standing in this merciless unending desert as a lone monument to all our sins."

There was a moment of silence as Catherine digested the information. While history had always been fascinating and it was no doubt interesting to know how this place had come to be like this, she had an agenda she must accomplish. No matter what, her entire journey, much less her forage into this place was because of her original and ultimate goal: To save her father. To know that this tower was one of what seemed to be an ancient castle buried underneath the sand was a step in the right direction.

There was no other place she could see her father being held captive after all. She could only hope that he was still okay, what with all the delays and hooha that had happened ever since her journey started.

"Could you bring me down into the castle?"

Cissilia immediately raised an eyebrow at the girl's request. "What for?" She snapped incredulously. "I could barely nick what was left in the storeroom without being detected by the mice. What use could an amateur like you do down there?

"Why would you even want to go down there in the first place?" She demanded.

"I... I need to rescue my father. I think he is down in there somewhere..."

Her sentence seemed to have a great impact upon the old woman. Within seconds, Catherine could visibly see her freeze up at the mention of her father. Her brows knitted together as invisible cogs furiously turned in her wrinkled forehead. Finally, Cissilia released a loud sigh.

"Perhaps, it is time to pay back my debts to Plankrun. Very well, I will help you locate your father."

It was a puzzling statement, but Catherine took it as a positive response all the same. Now that she had a guide, it would be a far easier time navigating...

"OH GREAT! THE FOOL CHOKED ON HIS WATER." Someone announced loudly, garnering the attention of all in the room.

In another corner, a male writhed upon the cold hard floor gurgling and finally becoming still. For a while, nobody approached until Jas Patter gathered his bearings enough to check for signs of life.

"Jieh is dead." Jas stated, shaking his head as he felt for a pulse. "Can we cook him?"

Eon deadpanned. "Jeez, seriously. People are even forgetting how to drink here."


	19. Chapter 19

**2Chapter19: The Acolyte Realm – Descend**

"Are we ready?" Cissilia asked.

"Yes but... do we have to have these guys tagging along?" Catherine helplessly sighed as she eyed the two other companions that would be accompanying them on the trip down.

Unfortunately, one of them noticed and took it the wrong way.

The one named Eon stared back somewhat coldly, the animosity from before not entirely forgotten. "Hey, at least I have functioning traps. I can definitely take care of myself better than you."

The sarcasm was not missed, directed at Catherine's lack of weapons in her arsenal. The girl could only shrug in response, but still it was not her fault she ended up only having her horn which was not even hers to start with.

"What about him then? A knife, really?" Catherine indignantly pointed at the last person.

Jas Patter barely acknowledged her by nodding as he returned to cleaning the Swiss army knife in his hands, missing her point entirely. It was only then she noticed the various dried bloodstains on that particular blade.

"If you had forgotten, he did spent _four years_ here. His traps are..."

"Enough Eon." Cissilia declared, with a tone of finality that only a matriarch would use in ending a quarrel between children. "I do not have to explain myself to you, Plankrun."

"But..."

The formidable old woman left the room into darkness without another word. Catherine Plankrun sighed in resignation as she followed, sure of the fact that she saw a slight smirk on Eon's features.

What she failed to see however, was the other smile of madness.

Interestingly, the buried levels of the once grand castle were lit and Catherine was pleasantly surprised when they exited a dank stairwell into the flickering light of a lone torch. There, the stale smell of soil assaulted her nose, assuring her that they were far beneath the surface. As Cissilia had enlightened them on, the tower they had been in was once the castle's Astronomy tower and was hence tall enough to survive being buried under the shifting sands when the Forgotten came.

Immediately, it occurred to Catherine why the Tower had been drowned in darkness. Anyone not intricately familiar with the layout would have been trapped in there till they die. No doubt it was a ploy by the intelligent rodents to confine the humans within their "sanctuary".

At the very least they would not have to find their way through the dark from now onwards.

"Squeak! Squeeak!"

"Huh?"

_Haiti says he have enough candles in his crate to last for a decade if we were ever trapped in the darkness._

"Oh, that's... uh reassuring." She lamely responded.

"Shhh." Eon hissed, displeasure firmly plastered on his face. "Cissilia is talking."

It took all of her willpower to resist the rising urge to slap the boy across the face. Maybe she could show the little fool the sharp end of her horn-blade... Catherine shook her head fiercely. Why was she thinking such horrible thoughts?

"From here onwards, we have to be careful to stay in the shadows. Any battles should be resolved quickly and any traps should be laid in subtlety. We will meet back here after an hour."

The three younger mouse-hunters nodded in unison although Catherine wondered the implications of her last sentence. It was soon answered for her.

"Eon." The boy acknowledged with a slight jerk of his head before taking his leave with Jas. "Plankrun, you and I shall go down to the castle dungeons. That should be where your father is being kept."

"Where are they going?" Catherine asked as she quietly followed behind the already moving woman.

"They?' Cissilia suddenly stopped in her tracks before turning around to face Catherine.

"If you really must know, I do not have a single idea of what they planned to do."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I might have saved them, but their lives are still their own." Cissilia replied as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

It was a miracle they managed get here, Eonus Kikowan thought. Along the way, they had been caught by a patrol of two Wight mice but quick reflexes with his traps and the deadly blade of Jas' Swiss army knife had diffused the situation with nothing more than two dead rodents.

However, it was unsettling that the Acolytes had stepped up patrols in the castle. A month earlier, he could have reached this place and back without even seeing a single mouse and he feared the worst.

Their luck was running out. It was a good thing they were about done here. He could almost feel it, the sweet taste of freedom all those days in the past week they had spent here. Today, might be the day.

"Jas, lets get to work." The other boy answered his call with a grunt.

Uncovering a shovel hidden behind an indiscreet barrel, the two of them shifted the crates stacked up against one side of the wall of the cellar, revealing a huge hole. They then stepped into the tunnel and sounds of metal striking stone soon echoed faintly, fuelled by their desire to see the light of the day.

"Be forewarned though, the Acolytes seems to have made the lower levels of the castle their home."

By the time they entered the dungeons, the lights from the torches had grown dimmer, casting dancing shadows across the stone walls. Catherine could not point a finger on it, but the air felt... wrong.

Suddenly, the old woman slammed the younger girl onto the wall, pressing her wrinkled hand onto Catherine's mouth with a surprising strength. Catherine tried to protest, but froze the moment a grave inhumane voice rang through the hallway.

"I feel someone's presence, Taxida." The lich's voice came through its unmoving mouth.

The other Lich mouse, presumed to be Taxida, replied.

"Indeed, it is that annoying Piperian again, but there is another one with her. This one smelled new. And young." It spoke with a voice so sinister that Catherine could make out an imaginary smirk on its skeletal face.

"Young?" A _third_ Lich joined the conversation. "Heh. So much younger than the Piperian."

Through the dim light, Catherine could make out the beads of sweat that were flowing down the older woman's forehead. Her eyes darted around wildly, as if trying to find a way out of this mess but failing. The descendant of Plankrun, on the other hand, have other plans.

"Mhmm mhmm."

"What? Oh." Cissilia released her hand.

"We fight." Catherine said, fixing her eyes upon the older woman.

Cissilia flinched and looked like she was about to admonish the girl for her foolish thoughts. However she suddenly turned, drawing out her wooden flute just as the first lich came into plain view.

"You have his eyes, you know?"


	20. Chapter 20

**2Chapter 20: The Acolyte Realm – Into Madness**

_A year ago, everything was much noisier._

"_Let me out of here! Let me out!" A distraught Eonus Kikowan screamed. "I can't, I won't stay here! LET ME OUT!"_

"_Shush you little piece of shit. We are all as trapped here as you are. If you go out there now, you will be torn into pieces by the rats." Jieh Angel retorted. "Now let me have my rest in peace."_

_Slowly, Eon's hysteria dissipated, leaving the boy a sobbing wreck in the corner of their "sanctuary". He had originally come into this realm in search of promised riches and glory, but instead met the full force of a rodent army the moment he stepped through the Forbidden Portal. For once, he finally understood why this place had been given the name the Forbidden Realm as he watch in utmost horror the mice ripping his traps apart bit by bit. Some of them had even turned to him, forcing him to run with whatever remaining of his traps he could salvage._

_Somehow along the way, this older mousehunter named Jieh Angel found him and took him into this tower like structure in the middle of the desert. There, he was led to this place where he met many others the same as he were._

_Blinded by greed, lured by promises._

_Now spirit broken and nowhere to go, they were all trapped in this room, waiting for a rescue that would never come, watching each other survive on scraps of hope and denial._

"_Hey." _

_Eon jerked._

"_Relax, I am not going to take a bite out of you." The owner of the voice revealed himself to be a quite handsome teenager. "So newbie, how do you like it here?"_

"_Like? Are you kidding me?" Eon asked incredulously. Inside, he felt like going into a rant all over again. This stranger, how could he speak of this accursed place so lightly._

"_Hey chill. None of us like this place if we can help it, but since we are already here, I suppose we could learn to make do." He then extended his hand. "I am Jas Patterson. Nice to meet you newbie."_

_Eon glanced hesitantly at the outstretched hand and back up into the smiling face of the other boy. "It is Eonus... Eonus Kikowan." He said, finally placing a tentative grasp on that handshake._

"_Very good. I think we might have found each other a new friend." Jas grinned. "Let me introduce you to the rest. We will be having only each other for company for quite some time after all."_

"_You see that girl over there? She is Spring..."_

"_Wait. What are you doing Jas? What is going on?" Eon growled irritably._

_Eon had been suddenly dragged away from his spot and was none too pleased at the sudden disruption of his rest. He had just came back from a trip with Cissilia, only for Jas to have a huge row with the older woman, making such a din that sleep was impossible. When it had quietened down and the two left to stew in their own rage, this had to happen._

"_Look, I got a plan to get us out of here." _

"_What?"_

"_As I have said, Eon. I am going to get us out of here. We will escape together." _

_Eon was stunned. He could not believe what he was hearing. For all those months, he had grown so accustomed to this life that the notion of escape had become new to him. _

"_H...how?" He croaked back in reply. "Does Cissilia know?" _

_At the mention of the old woman, Jas turned outright murderous._

"_Don't you see Eon? She was trying to keep us here! That old woman never had an intention to leave this place!" He snarled, spit flying all over Eon. _

_Then suddenly he changed tone, as though they had never broach the subject on the Piperian. "Look, I found us a shovel. Next trip down, we will dig a tunnel out of here or my name isn't Jas Patter!"_

_Eon had no idea how to reply. He only nodded in return as Jas excitedly filled the boy in on his plans. After all, if they could escape it could only be for the best._

_Right?_

"I can't believe it." He gasped as the last chuck of sand broke away.

The warm touch of the desert sun caressed his skin as he breathed in the sandy air. Even though the merciless rays threatened to burn his skin, he was overjoyed. After months of sweat and tolling, they had finally made it.

Jas's plan had worked. They were free.

The only thing left to do was to reach the Portal without being detected and soon they will be home-bound, never to see this god-forsaken place ever again. Already, Eon could see himself in the arms of his family being welcomed back home. His parents, his siblings... He missed them all. The year had been tough and this experience, humbling. Never again will he be taken in by false promises of fame and glory, he swore.

Ditching the shovel he was holding with a loud clang, he turned to head back into the tunnel.

"Where are you going Eon?" Jas' voice came.

"To the others, they should know of this. We can escape together."

"NO."

"What?"

"No, Eon."

"But why?" The boy protested.

"Why? You ask me why?" Jas voice became downright malicious. "I will tell you WHY!"

"The moment you go back, you will be trapped forever again by that damn woman! I told you before right, Eon? She wanted to keep us here. She wanted to control us forever! Spring was right, escaping was the right choice."

Eon was quailed into silence. Primal fear rose up within him. Jas had been quite volatile as of recent times, but this... this was unprecedented.

"Surely you have noticed Eon, the mice had stepped up their patrols. If you go back now, they WILL catch you. They WILL find this tunnel and we WILL all be doomed. You know that don't you, Eon?"

Although Eon did not reply, Jas continued on his tirade as though he had answered.

"I have lost so much Eon. I can't lose myself anymore. My name, my identity, I am losing them. I know I am losing them. I have to get out of here, Eon. I have to get out."

"Jas..." Eon had no idea where he found the courage to speak.

"I will not lose myself, Eon," The boy suddenly snapped, his voice laced with madness. "AND I WILL NOT LET YOU LOSE THEM FOR ME."

The next thing Eon knew he was lying upon the ground, a Swiss army knife sticking out of his chest. Shock and surprise soon faded and was replaced by the agony of pain as he laid there bleeding.

_We will escape together._

The last thing Eonus Kikowan saw was the figure of Jas disappearing into the light.


	21. Chapter 21

**2Chapter 21: The Acolyte Realm – Repaying a Debt **

"_We fight." Catherine said._

With a flourish, Cissilia jumped out from the shadows with a dexterity an old woman should not have, nimbly twirling her flute between her fingers before putting it to her lips. At once, a haunting melody came from the wooden instrument, filling the empty air of the void castle. That was not all however, for with a swift precise kick, the matriarch sent a piece of runic cheese flying towards the group of Lich while she played her music.

"The Piperian! Get her!" One of lich yelled. "Before her song ensnares..."

It did not finish, for the runic cheese impact straight into its face, knocking the undead rodent out cold.

"Taxida!" One of the two remaining mice called out in horror, torn between concern for its fallen comrade and encroaching desire for the runic cheese that had enticed its attention. The other mouse on the other hand shot the woman a murderous look and let loose a green bolt of blinding light.

Cissilia took one look at the incoming projectile before side-stepping and allowing it to fly harmlessly past. All these time, she never stopped playing her symphony. It was as though the song was her extension and its powerful music, her weapon.

Catherine stared in awe from the shadows. Now she understood why the Liches had said Cissilia to be annoying. The tenacity of the woman was simply amazing. Not only could she duel three Liches at once to a standstill, she actually seemed to be winning. A duck here and a side-step there, Cissilia had managed to dodge all of the Lich's attacks with ease, while she slowly but surely suppressed them to her music's power.

"Out you go, girl." An inhumane growl interrupted her thoughts. "Play time is over."

Catherine froze. There, at her side, a malicious Lich mouse stood with a ball of cackling green energy in its paws ready to explode and disintegrate her. The mouse-hunter could only nod weakly, at which the rodent prodded her with its other paw, forcing her out into the open. The battle paused, both sides stunned by the new development.

"Ah, Gnooy. You came in the nick of time. We were wondering what happened to you." The Lich mouse that had been engaged with Cissilia broke away and commented.

"I smelt two male humans and went hunting for them. Seriously, even if it was the Piperian we are talking about, do I need to step in to save the three of you?" The one holding Catherine hostage replied with a self-satisfied smirk, much to the chagrin of its comrades.

The Piperian in question however, was not pleased. Without a word spoken, she fished out another runic cheese from her pouch and sent it flying as she resumed her song. Before it could hit its target though, a green blast of energy vaporised the cheese piece.

"Stop your playing, Piperian, if you know what is good for the girl." Gnooy waved its paws threateningly.

Cissilia was unfazed, but her notes wavered just that tiny bit, enough for the Lich to catch onto it. It grinned a toothy smile, as though it had struck an underground vein of runic cheese.

"So... this girl is something to you." Gnooy drawled. "Normally, you would not care less if it was anyone else but what if... I cut off her head... or blow it up?"

As if to prove its point, the Lich mouse strengthened the green ball in its paws with a pulse of energy and waved it dangerously closed to Catherine's head.

Catherine did not know what to do, nor did she know what she should say. Never had she expect herself to land in such a situation, nor how quickly it had turned from a curb-stomp battle into a hostage scenario. Nevertheless, she supposed she should at least say something. It was her fault that Cissilia was in such a bind after all.

"It's... okay." Catherine Plankrun forced a smile. "Don't worry about me. Just keep playing."

"Shut up." The older woman snapped back, visibly flustered as her powerful song was disrupted for a second time.

The younger mouse-hunter only sighed. "I told you I will be okay."

The moment she finished her words, a loud painful crack echoed throughout the hallway, following by the shattering of glass and skull as Haiti the Hope mouse smashed one of his bottles against the Lich named Gnooy. While the rest of those present were stunned, Catherine immediately took the lull in Gnooy's concentration to swing around and bat away the green kill-ball with a metallic instrument.

"Acro-horn, activate!"

Like a hungry beast, the rim of the living horn widened into a set of carnivorous jaws before chomping down on the mouse whole. Nothing was left behind.

"Squeak!" Haiti indignantly squeaked as it jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the same fate.

Perhaps it was the brutality of the actions, or it was because everything happened too fast to register, but both Cissilia and the Lich mice were shell-shocked. Never had they seen a monstrosity such as the Acro-horn before and the closest they could compare to would have been the ACRONYM, which is nothing like this. It took a yell of 'Cissilia" from Catherine to knock the older woman into her senses who returned back to playing her song.

However, her shout also jolted the two remaining Lich into action, who began to rapidly fling energy bolts at them, determined to put some distance between themselves and the new "weapon". It took all she had to dodge them and even then, a near miss vaporised some of her hair. Pressured by the barrage, Catherine have no choice but to seek shelter behind a sturdy pillar.

Normally, she would have wondered how the blasts did not take the pillar with them, but at that point of time, she had no time to care. Watching the older woman still out in the open enter a deadly dance with death while playing her flute, she could see that Cissilia is slowly beginning to tire. On the other hand, the cheese-crazed glints were slowly appearing in the rodents' eyes. With one of them suppressing Catherine into inaction and the other duelling with Cissilia, the battle had evolved into a fight of resilience, victory going to whoever succumbs last.

She had to help, but how?

Looking down at the blood stained horn in her hand, Catherine could not help but be irked by the bits and pieces of the remains of Gnooy on the pulsing instrument. However, it must be done.

Putting the mouth-piece to her lips, she blew.

The last time she blew the horn against the Terror Knight mouse, out came a blast of sound so strong it blew apart the mouse's eardrums. This time however, Catherine willed it to generate a song, and it did.

From a horn, a complementing melody to what Cissilia was playing flowed and joined the music, instantly forming harmonious chords and overtones, boosting its power twice-fold. It took no more than five seconds for the Lich mice to degenerate into mindless rodents which fought each other over the single piece of runic cheese remaining. All that was left was Cissilia walking towards them and giving each a quick stab with her dagger to end their misery.

"There is blood on your lips." Cissilia coolly said when she passed the younger girl after she retrieved her cheese. Rather, she did not know what else to say after witnessing what had transpired. At least they took care of four of the more powerful mice in the castle...

"Come, we should get going."

"O...okay." Catherine fell into steps behind the older woman, not noticing that her tongue had flicked out to wipe off the blood-stains around her mouth. A single unbidden thought rose into her consciousness.

_Delicious._


	22. Chapter 22

**2Chapter 22: The Acolyte Realm – Repaying a Debt2**

Apparently, as Cissilia helpfully explained, they had just taken out four members of the Forgotten Council, a feat that she herself had deemed impossible until this very day. The Forgotten Council had consisted of eight Lich mice of high magical strength, each commanding a fraction of the forgotten army. They are then ruled over by three of the most powerful mice ever known - The Lord of Death, Lord of Arcane and the Lord of Shadows. In the woman's own words, "Four down, seven to go."

"Three..." Catherine trailed off at Cissilia's mention of the ruling Acolyte mice. If one of them is as terrifying as the Acolyte mouse she met atop the Pagoda, who is to know how much destruction three of them could have caused.

"There were more." Cissilia started abruptly in a bitter tone. "But my brothers and sisters sacrificed themselves to take them out."

Catherine did not know what to say. On one hand, she felt pity for this old woman who had lost everything to the cruel mice and yet on the other, there was relief that her grandfather had sealed the Acolyte threat off years ago before much damage could have been done to her world. It was between the Devil and the sea and she offhandedly wonder if her grandfather had known of the consequences when he banished the forgotten horde to this realm.

She sighed.

The younger mouse hunter could not help but wish that there was never the Forgotten Army to contend with, and hence no tragedy brought about in its wake.

"Life had never been smooth sailing girl." Catherine jumped. "If you are thinking of how pitiful we are, forget it. This is what we deserved. Our debt, our punishment."

This debt that she kept harping on, had it not been paid for by the blood of her fellow man?

"And because we denied him paradise, paradise had been denied to us all." The older woman continued. "Plankrun... He was your ancestor. I could imagine the hatred he borne towards us if he were to change his name to what we had mocked him for. I could imagine..."

Her last words stunned Catherine. Her eyes widened as she struggled to make sense of this revelation. So somewhere along the line, her distant ancestor was abandoned by the very same group Cissilia belonged to and when it came to her grandfather's time, he returned the family favour by knowingly or unknowingly dumping the forgotten army on them? What had he been thinking? Anger? Vengeance? Or was it merely a convenient place for him to seal the Acolytes?

Ironic. What a twist of cruel fate, indeed. Small wonder why Cissilia had decided to help her back in the safe room. It was because she carried a cursed debt that would never be repaid as long as the name of Plankrun lived, not even if it had been buried under the shifting sands along with the forgotten bones of the Piperians.

"I'm sorry." Catherine then apologised in a small whisper.

"What for?" Cisslia snapped her head incredulously, to which Catherine never replied.

The rest of their journey through the dungeons was conducted in silence.

Half-dead. That is what he is.

Jack Plankrun regained consciousness for what appeared to be the hundredth time, and each time he woke, the same sight would always greet him. Face always under that hood, wicked claws folded together as it surveyed its prisoner with unseen eyes, this acolyte will always be there whenever he open his eyes.

"Plankrun." It growled. "Feel like speaking now?"

Spittle splattered upon its hood, and while its features were obscured behind it, the air trembled with the rodent's fury. Jack Plankrun managed to get in a self-satisfied smirk before a shock of unbearable pain coursed through his bound body. As always, it took him no more than a few seconds before his consciousness gave out again.

"Did he say anything, Beta?" Another voice joined in.

The Acolyte mouse turned away to leave. "No, Gamma. As stubborn as always."

"He is a Plankrun after all." The newcomer stepped out from the shadows. "I doubt he will break in only a few days. His father preferred to die than to talk and you think the son will just up and tell us everything about the Trap of Infinity?"

"And so what do we do?" The Acolyte named Gamma bellowed in frustration. "Ever since Alpha went and disappeared, his promise of freedom had lingered in my heart and gnawed on it without end! How long must we wait before we are released from this realm?"

"Apparently, soon."

"What?" Gamma jerked his head towards the other Acolyte.

Beta nonchalantly gave a poke to the unmoving body of Jack Plankrun. "It seems that his daughter had come in after him."

The implications were clear.

At the rodent's touch, the body of the mousehunter started to animate itself without the will of its unconscious owner as the bonds binding him to his prison magically unlocked themselves.

"Now, Plankrun." A twisted smile flashed across the Lord of Death's partially hidden face.

"Let's go and have a nice family reunion."


	23. Chapter 23

**2Chapter23: Digby/Laboratory – Spring**

"Director! Director Surge!" a loud holler came from the passageway, prompting Crevice Zugzwang to look up from his new shiny toy and a particularly weary glare from the man in demand.

"What is it?" He irritably snapped at the panting messenger, the exhaustion from the previous emergency having taken a toll on him. "If it is not important, give it to me the next day. God knows I need a nice long sleep after keeping my promise here."

"But sir, the Laboratory sent a request for aid. The Monster mouse has gone berserk and is tearing down the lab as we speak!"

Gregain Surge groaned. While he would like to ignore the news completely, the Laboratory is still under Digby governance. Those Gnawnian bastards would never lift a finger to help when they could just accuse him of failing his job and annexing that territory away from him after. On the other hand, assuming he did respond to the new situation, the problem of manpower still remained.

Most of his men had been assigned to triage and repairs after the wake of the Big Bad Burroughs' destruction. There was technically no one he could spare, unless… Gregain eyed the boy who had gone back to tinkering with a chrome box of sorts.

"Mister Zugwang…"

"No." He replied instantaneously without even looking up from whatever he was doing.

"But…"

"I have endangered my own life for you enough, Director." Crevice waved a bandaged hand in front of him as if to make his point. "I am not going to become your errand boy."

It took all his years of experience as the head honcho of Digby to not explode at the stubborn brat in front of him. Rearing his anger in, Gregain Surge tried again as calmly as he could muster.

"What if I compensate you with a one-time free purchase in our stores?"

"Life-time."

"What?"

"Forget it then."

"Alright, Life-time. Would you do it now?" He sounded as if he was hissing through gritted teeth.

It was as though the boy had been waiting exactly for that. At the confirmation of the newest offer, he stopped his tinkering immediately and gave a satisfied grin to the older man.

"Okay." Slotting the box into his backpack, he then slung it over his shoulders and strode out of the door, motioning to the messenger to lead the way.

The futuristic metal doors slide back into place, bringing silence into the room once more.

"One day…" Gregain Surge slammed his fist onto the wooden table in barely contained fury. "One day, I will wipe that smile off your face."

The Laboratory was in utter chaos. No sooner had Crevice stepped past its ominous gates did he see a pack of bionic mice ravage a mousehunter's abandoned drillbot and tore it into pieces, its owner presumably fled, or worse, dead. Further in, the long dark hallways of the infrastructure echoed with screams of fear, all indicative of a certain fact. The rodents of the lab had rallied to the rage of their king

Crevice did not bat an eyelid as he shot the pack of rats dead.

Coincidence had no part in this. First the Big Bad Burroughs and now the Monster had gone on a rampage without any known external stimuli. Individually they might seem to be random occurrences but when put together, it appeared to be all according to someone else's plan. Something is afoot and he should quickly neutralise this monster mouse before more damage could be done.

Venturing deeper into the building, Crevice began a clinical search for the abomination. Since the place was low level, the mice he met along the way posed no problems at all to his arsenal of guns, explosives and trusty flamethrower. One thing that unnerved the Zugzwang though, was the feral state they were in. As the mice threw themselves into his all-devouring inferno without any fear of death, he could not help but feel that their minds were not their own.

Not that these primitive mice should have enough intelligence but something just felt wrong.

"Meat…" It was the signature low groan of the monster mouse. He must be close now.

"MEAT!"

There was a loud crashing sound of glass and metal, allowing Crevice to pinpoint the mouse exact location, but he was immediately halted by the sickening squelch of something fleshy and wet. It is a known fact that the monster mouse feed on other weaker mice, but given the current state of things, Crevice was not so sure anymore.

Did he dare enter the scene and be greeted by whatever horrifying sight there is?

He still had to in any case. The berserk mouse should be put down as soon as possible.

"Goddamnit."

Crevice rounded the corner and the sight was terrifying. In the middle of the room, a small mountain of human bodies was piled up besides the titanic monster mouse as it tore a keeper mouse from limb to limb. A number of them were still living, evident from the groans of resignation and pain. From all corners of the room, the mutated indigenous mice dragged in new bodies, human and even foreign mice alike, before adding them to the pile of food for their master.

In a flash, the sinister and ambrosia portals on Crevice's hands flared into life, just as the mice too noticed him and charged. Purple and gold flew through the air crashing right into the oncoming horde and one by one the mutants fell, until only the monster mouse remains.

"Meat?" It seemed to finally realise the demise of its minions.

"MEAAATT!"

The unholy amalgamation of various rodents given life lunged forward in a bellow of rage. Wicked claws swiped across towards the boy, only to meet thin air as Crevice expertly ducked. Taking the opening given by the Monster's miss, he then let lose a barrage of purple golden fire right into the abdomen of the chimera.

"This ends here."

However, it would appear that the monster was not as dumb as he believed. Pain wrecked Crevice's entire body when he found himself flying through the air a moment later from a powerful kick, impacting the ground just in time to see the rodent smashing downwards towards him. It would have been fatal, only if he did not roll out of the way in the nick of time.

"Curses." It is getting much more dangerous every passing second and he could not bring himself to use the rest of his weapons in fear of hurting whoever is still alive in the room. Rolling back onto his feet, Crevice stumbled at a sudden jab of pain. Great, he just has to sprain his back from the exertion too.

The claw came again and this time Crevice was burdened down by the sprain he incurred. He may have barely avoided injury but the claw ripped through his backpack, spilling everything inside. Explosive bases, and cheese and the chrome box he had acquired were all unceremoniously distributed across the mouldy ground. For exactly a minute, the boy stared blankly at his possessions before a smirk crept into his face.

"Thank you for reminding me, but you will have to die for destroying my bag."

The monster mouse only roared dumbly in challenge to Crevice's words. Snatching the displaced chrome box into his arms, he then held it at his chest just as the monster decided to charge. There was a loud click and the box started to disassemble itself.

White light flared into the dark hallways, momentarily stopping the mouse in its tracks. "Chrome Rhinobot. ACTIVATE!"

However, it was not as it seemed. Instead of transforming into a gigantic robot of brute strength, the module instead spread itself out into seven distinct segments all of which were specially customised to Crevice's fitting. Those Digby tinkers surely were the best in their crafts, for the moment Crevice stepped forward into the opened cocoon he was subsumed by the trap whole. Hydraulics groaned as metal locks smoothly turned into place, fastening the armour to his body segment by segment. In a few moments, the transformation was complete, ending with the distinctive rhino horned helmet sliding down onto his face.

"Cool."

The monster became even more confused. This was unlike anything its primitive mind had ever seen. It might be stupid but it was sure that this occurrence was unprecedented. The chimeric mouse was surprised even further when the new human-trap fusion charged right at it in a flash beyond human means and began to match it strength with strength.

Claws met chrome metal, only to do nothing more than a pitiful scratch. Kicks that used to send the boy flying were now met with equal retaliating force, shaking the monster's very bones. It had become a battle where it was hopelessly outclassed and the outcome looked grim. True enough, the tireless machine soon gained the upper-hand over the rapidly weakening mouse, culminating in a final fuel-powered punch that overwhelmed the monster entirely. The last thing the monster saw of its life was the unfeeling blue visor of the monstrosity looking down at it in victory.

"Oww… That hurts. Where… did mister candle go?"

That voice…

"He promised me… a green stuffed toy…"

It could not be.

Crevice swerved around, sliding his visor open to show his surprised features. There, lying in an awkward angle from the pile of limbs and bodies was a face he would never ever forget.

"SPRING!"


	24. Chapter 24

**2Chapter 24: Zugzwang's Garden – The Four Seasons.**

"Repeat after me, children."

The massive beard of the wizard swayed gently with the breeze.

"Yes master!" The children no older than seven or eight chorused in unison from their seats.

"Magic is not a toy."

Every day before they started class, they will always repeat the three fundamental rules of the arcane. It was implemented by Zugzwang to drill them into his student's heads so as to create responsible upstanding mages for the people's future.

"Magic is not a toy." They obediently repeated, as they had always done.

"Magic is for helping others."

"Magic is for helping others."

As Zugzwang's numerous gadgets clink melodiously in the wind, the scene was almost serene.

"Magic is music."

"Magic is music."

However, the atmosphere was much more tensed than appearances showed.

"Children, I am now going to give you back your last test." The aging wizard smiled with a twinkle in his eyes. "Most of you did better than expected, but…"

"Spring."

A petite girl with a ponytail of peach blonde hair enthusiastically stood up to collect her paper.

"You should really buck up more."

"Okay!" She cheerfully replied, despite being effectively named the worst scorer of the class.

"Summer. Good job, but you could have done better." This time the redhead of the bunch answered Zugzwang with a much quieter affirmative. This one had always been quite shy in front of him but he knew from Crevice's own testimony that she was as fiery as her namesake in private.

The next was a pigtailed brunette with a pair of glasses. "Congratulations on scoring the highest marks in the test, Autumn." The comment immediately earned the resident bookworm an envious stare from her red-haired classmate.

"Winter." The last girl of the quintet coolly rose to accept her paper without a word, her long white hair filling the entire vision of the only boy in the group. Youngest of them all, Zugzwang could already see a latent beauty in her, waiting for time to unleash it.

"And Crevice." No answer came.

Waving the final paper in front of the dazed boy, Zugzwang loudly coughed to jolt his descendent out of his female-induced stupor. "Ahem, Crevice."

"I- I'm sorry Grandfather."

"Good job too." Zugzwang only gave a knowing smile before turning his attention back to his class who had already started to compare their tests between themselves. Spring was as usual brazenly trying to compare marks and questions while Summer seemed very reluctant to oblige. Autumn was explaining the more difficult parts to anybody who would listen while Winter looked on with an amused expression.

Ah… the wonders of youth.

"Children, I have something to say."

The five children immediately ceased whatever they were doing at the wizard's behest, except for Spring who took the lull in Crevice's attention to take his paper for her own. The boy gave an annoyed glare at the mischievous girl but was otherwise silent in light of his grandfather's announcement.

"We need to start talking about your apprenticeship."

"Music is magic. It is not a toy and should be used to help others. Yes, yes I knew that already." Crevice irritably grumbled.

"I know you do, Crevice."

They were in Zugzwang's antechamber, at the very top of the magical tower. Multiple silver instruments littered the table that separated the two Zugzwangs, tinkling in the momentary silence.

"Then we should cut the small talk." Crevice started, visibly flustered with his hair flying about like a wild demon.

"WHY did you ask her to do THAT?"

Zugzwang did not flinch; He had seen enough of Crevice's temper for that. The aged wizard simply raised an eyebrow at the accusation and replied, "I did not ask her. She offered to do it herself."

"It is dangerous! How could you send her to do it alone?"

"I am fully aware of her capabilities. There is no problem."

"But… but grandfather!" The boy's words were audibly softer, carrying a hidden plea in them.

"No buts. You knew pretty well that every single one of my apprentices is required to take a specialisation. She chose that as her specialisation."

Crevice shuffled about his feet, still seemingly unconvinced.

"And she is nearing sixteen. The law dictates that she had to accept the Hunter's Horn eventually. The route she chose merely coincides with that."

"What about Autumn? Isn't she past the age requirement? But she is still here! She is still here since a year -"

"I had requested the King to allow an exception for Miss Autumn." The elder Zugzwang's patience appeared to be at its limit and his voice is becoming increasingly strained. "She was to remain under my tutelage as a full-fledged magician and of course, carry out her current specialisation in maintaining the tower's protection."

"And me? What about me? Do I have to go to the castle next year?"

A loud slam on the table rattled the magical instruments, followed by a bellow of anger from the patriarch of magic. "Stop your nonsense, Crevice. You know very well that you will stay here and be my heir!"

The finality in his tone shut the younger boy up fine. Sulking, Crevice bowed and left the room, the loud slam of the door being his only outlet for frustration. Zugzwang sighed. Somehow, the two of them had grown pretty close throughout the years, so today's outburst was to be expected. Crevice might have been rude, but he was at no fault of his own. It was only earlier this morning that he discovered Spring was to leave the tower to pursue her future.

The girl's poor aptitude in magic had denied her the path of Object Animation and Rune-work, leaving her only one route to take.

Mouse-hunting.

"SPRING!"

The girl named Spring stopped in her tracks. She had barely left the Tower and they were calling for her back? Turning around to face the panting Crevice, she gave him a carefree grin. "Yes, Crevice? Did I forget something?"

To her surprise, the boy hugged her.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"About what?"

"Your specialisation, and you leaving."

She laughed as heartily as she always did.

"Don't be silly, Crevice. I will be learning all about magical traps. It will be fun." Spring returned the hug, wrapping her arms around the boy fully. "Besides, I will finally be able to learn all about the Trap of Infinity that Master Zugzwang helped build."

"It won't be that long of a trip. I am sure I will be back by next year and it will be so fast before you can even say 'Spring ate all the cookies'. Then maybe I can help you on your own mouse-hunting journey. It will be so much fun!" The more she said, the more she felt like she was explaining the situation to her own self, all the while as Crevice remained silent in their embrace.

There was a reason why she chose not to tell anyone about her departure until it was supposedly too late. She had to do something, or it would become too hard to bear.

"Hey Crevice," Spring pushed Crevice away before fishing a small keyshard out of her pocket. "This key will be our promise okay? I will meet you here next year at this place, at this time. The key of Zugzwang will be our witness, neh?"

The boy took the shard from the girl, nodding at the agreement between the two of them.

"I have to go now, or the mister Ferry won't wait."

It was then she chose to plant a kiss upon the boy's forehead, taking the opportunity while he was dazed to leave him behind and officially start on her journey.

"See you next spring, Crevice."

The next spring, she did not appear.


	25. Chapter 25

**2Chapter25: Digby - Letting go**

Once again, he found himself back in front of Gregain Surge who looked like he had enough of the Zugzwang heir, only this time the roles were reversed. Prostrating himself at the director's feet with the rapidly weakening body of Spring, he begged.

"Please save her."

"No."

"Goddamnit. I admit I was being an ass previously, but please just save her with your ana-aneastatic or whatever. I… I will do anything."

Gregain could not believe his ears. Crevice Zugzwang is willing to offer himself for the life of a blabbering half dead girl. Either the girl was someone of importance to him, or the world had just gone crazy. The town as a whole was still reeling from the destruction caused by the Burroughs and the Monster, he did not think he could deal with another crisis like this.

"Please." The boy's desperation filled voice came again.

He paused for half a second longer to savour his newfound position of power over the heir before finally replying. It was not as if he was going to refuse forever; there is a certain strategic advantage to have a powerful person in one's favour after all.

"Alright, I will have my doctors take her in." There was an audible sigh of relief. "However, I will withdraw that life-time offer from you, as well as require a debt of service from you to repay later."

"Fine." The reply came without hesitation.

"Then it is a deal."

Hours later, Crevice was back in the sterile white room keeping vigil at the unmoving body of the girl hooked to various alien machines that beep at rhythmic intervals. Her wounds would have been mutagenic or even fatal; such is the characteristics of the mice of the laboratory, had she not been treated quickly. Even though the circumstances under which they had finally reunited were not the best, Crevice gave a wordless thanks to whoever was watching from the heavens above for the coincidence.

Spring, the one girl out of the four that had been the closest to him, the stark contrast between the current dishevelled self and the bright bubbly girl back in those days could not have been more obvious. Crevice could only imagine what she had been through to end up in the state of nearly becoming the monster mouse's meal.

"Urgh…" She began to stir.

"Spring? Spring!" Crevice sprang to his feet, nearly knocking over his chair in the progress. "Spring, I am here. Don't worry, I am here."

"Huh?" The girl mumbled weakly, followed by a sentence which stopped Crevice's heart cold.

"Who are you?"

It was as though his whole world came crashing down.

"You… don't remember me?" Crevice inhaled.

He must have appeared very distressed, for her confused look changed into the kind smile he had always knew, making the wound tore even deeper. "Of course… I do, mister…rhino."

"I see." Crevice turned away, the metal clunk of his Rhino armour which he had not the time to remove echoing a solemn note of pain.

Their promise had been forgotten; He had been forgotten.

In the end, his journey was for naught.

"CREVICE ZUGZWANG!"

The sight of an old man chasing a young boy would have almost been comical had the elder not been firing spells after spells at the youth.

"Get back here, Crevice! I won't have my heir running around the world doing stupid things like catching MICE!"

"I am sorry grandfather." A well-timed skip dodged the restraining spell in the nick of time. "But I have decided."

Hopping onto the ferry that leads the only way out from the island, Crevice quickly bid it to leave before his raging grandfather could catch up to them.

"I have decided to follow Spring's footsteps."

"CREVICE!" Zugzwang shouted as though his holler could bring his grandson back from his decision of insanity.

"A year." By then, there was a noticeable gap between Crevice and the island he called home. Zugzwang stood at the edge, his powerful beard frazzled with frustration. How in the world could this had happened?

"A year is all I need, grandfather." Crevice's steely gaze was filled with determination. "I will retrace Spring's journey and get her back. If she had been lost, I will help her find her way back. If she had been killed…"

"Then I will bring her body home."

Crevice took a deep breath at the thought.

"Maybe a year later, I would have some achievement that even you could be proud of, grandfather. Then I will return to continue my studies in magic."

"Do whatever you want." The elderly Zugzwang started to leave in defeat. "Just don't let anyone know my grandson ran away from me."

A smile crept into Crevice's face. "Of course, grandfather. Of course."

"Did you see mister candle?"

Crevice was jolted out of his reminiscence by the sudden question.

"Mister candle was so strong. He battled golems and ghosts for me. He was like my hero."

The mister candle she was referring to would most probably be that keeper mouse that was devoured seconds before he arrived onto the scene. Crevice had neither the heart nor the will to tell the rambling girl that.

"Cathy would be so sad if he was not around anymore…"

Wait… what? Cathy?

Catherine?

"Cathy?"

"Yea Cathy. You know her, mister rhino?" The jab in his heart came again, but Crevice ignored it.

"She was so coooool! She walked into that scary gate like some kinda heroine of a movie with her brave bodyguards, green stuff toy and brown stuff toy!"

"Gate? You mean she actually entered the Trap of Infinity?"

"Yea." Spring cheerfully replied, a stark contrast to the furrowed brows of a very worried Crevice.

"Oh. My. God. That damn woman." Crevice immediately turned to leave, only to stop himself. "I am sorry Spring. I will be back soon."

Then he was gone, leaving the girl all alone once more in the empty white room. A while later, after she was sure that he was totally gone, tears started to fall.

"I am sorry too, Cr… cre…"


	26. Chapter 26

**2Chapter 26: The Beginning of the End**

The first impression Catherine received when she entered the dungeons of the forgotten castle was that the place had been very well-kept. She had expected it to be a mess, a decrepit relic of the past that had long since been eaten away by the sands and filled with animal droppings, but how wrong she was. Rust-free, dust-free and clutter-free, the hallways were well-maintained, if not dimly lit. The smell of soil so prominent at the levels above was surprisingly not present at the slightest.

"It is the heart of their territory after all." Cissilia supplied, noticing the bewildered look on the girl's face. "Don't ask me why they set up base in a dungeon of all places."

According to the older woman, the castle had a moderately sized prison system, which is connected to the basement storage via a doorway that had long been collapsed. Apparently they did not need that big a place to hold criminals back in those days, only a sufficient one to punish naughty deviants and even those were set free after a few days of self-reflection. As such, they only needed a bit more exploring before they would find her father again.

Of course, that is if the mice did not find them first.

"Someone is coming, hide!" suddenly whispered Cissilia, who started pushing Catherine into a shadowy corner. The latter did not budge, for her sight was transfixed on something else entirely.

"No wait…" She could not believe her eyes. There in the middle of the room stood Jack Plankrun, battered and worn out but definitely still alive.

"DAD!"

"Wait. It might be a tra-"

Ignoring Cissilia's protests, Catherine threw all caution to the wind and ran towards her father, her arms open in an embrace. It had been a long journey, one fraught with danger and hardship, and she had finally found what she came for. Soon, everything would be over. They will get out and go back home.

"I told you not to come, didn't I?" A sharp blast of purple energy impacted upon Catherine, throwing her across the room like a ragdoll.

"Why did you not listen?" The mockery of her father croaked, his lifeless eyes shining ominously with a deathly green glow. His hand was out, carrying a familiar obelisk of living metal.

"Urgh…dad?"

"He is being controlled, girl." Cissilia was in an instant by the young mousehunter's side, forcing her to stand. "Quick, get on your feet. The Lords are here."

A soft sound of clapping echoed down the suddenly silent hall. "So you do remember us. Piperian. And I thought we have not met since eternity."

"Fuck you." Cissilia spat.

"Well, fuck you too."

With a snap of its paws Jack Plankrun stirred into action, his ACRONYM flashing dangerously as he fired a barrage of energy towards the female duo. Catherine only caught a snide smirk on the mouse's hooded face before the older woman pushed her out of harm's way, both ending up on the stone floor again.

"How does it feel being reunited, eh Plankrun? It must have been sweet."

Picking themselves up from the dirt, Cissilia shot a death glare at the gloating mouse.

"He is the Lord of Death, who likes to control anything from dead corpses-" She noticed the horrified look on Catherine's face. "-to unconscious people. So your father might not be actually dead."

Laughter. The blinding light from the new ball of energy on Jack's ACRONYM barely covered the smug look on its face.

"Better dead than discovering you killed your loved one. I believe you remembered that very clearly, Last Piperian."

At that, Cissilia's face scrunched up into indescribable rage. Even standing just beside her, Catherine could feel the anger emanating off the woman in waves. It took no longer than a few seconds for the Piperian to whip out her flute and lunged at the mouse in a war cry of vengeance.

"LORD OF DEATH, YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!"

The next thing she knew a knife was in her back, a second Acolyte mouse having emerged from her shadow and implanted it there. Cissilia screamed in agony as she fell to the ground short of her target, while the new mouse nonchalantly dislodged his weapon from his fallen prey. All the while Catherine watched, a feeling of dread slowly creeping into her mind. She finally understood why Cissilia was content to shut herself in atop the Astronomy tower with all the other survivors and engage in a primitive form of guerrilla 'warfare'; she would never have a chance against the two most intelligent mice known to man.

Nor would she. She had to do something to help the injured woman, and fast. Putting her horn to her lips, Catherine quickly blew a tune of urgency. Enhanced by the wind and half of the True Onyx Stone, it might have worked if not for a second horn-player entering the fray. Jack Plankrun, mechanically blowing his own hunter horn, clashed with her note for note while Cissilia struggled with the Lord of Shadows on the ground. There was another yelp, and the pooled blood on the floor grew even bigger.

Things were not looking good.

* * *

Foraging into the Forbidden Grove was harder than he originally thought. It was lucky that he remembered to fish out that keeper's candle he thrown away before he left Digby or he would risk being lost in these cursed woods forever. The Trap of Infinity not only distorts time between this world and the next, it too influences the area around it, such was its power. Having studied under one of the creators of the trap, he knew very well it was impossible to traverse out of here without the candle that inexplicably grants immunity to this effect. What he did not know however, was that the gate apparently opens itself every once in the while.

Like what it is doing at the very moment.

"We meet again, Zugzwang." A figure said, greeting the boy as he calmly stood in front of the gleaming ebony doors that were slowly opening up. The purplish glow pulsed stronger with every creak, threatening to fill the entire clearing with its unholy light once again.

"Etyloca." Crevice hissed, his first impression of the man not being exactly stellar. Seeing him here brought further suspicion on him and his motives. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting."

"For?" There was no time for nonsense.

"The end."

The shopkeeper dropped his disguise as he held out the other half of the True Onyx Stone, revealing the Lord of Arcane in all his glory.


	27. Chapter 27

**2Chapter 27: The Beginning of the End II**

"Hah!" Crevice Zugzwang snorted. "I knew something was wrong with you."

The iron-clad boy raised his palms towards the mouse, revealing threatening orange and purple glows from within. At the face of challenge, emotionless eyes met the Zugzwang's steely glare from beneath the acolyte's hood. Both adversaries stared each other down from the other side of the field, neither willing to break eye contact nor act. Tension was high, until the mouse decided to break the silence.

"Of course, I would not have expected any less. Last time, you and that knight got in my way. This time, you will not."

"We will see about that."

In an instant, the ground between the two of them was filled with a blur of purple and orange orbs, all heading towards each side. Crevice quickly sidestepped the initial volley that would have maimed him with his machine-enhanced speed before charging through an open path towards the mouse.

"Obelisk of Incineration, Activate."

A pillar of fire heeded his call.

"Sword mode."

At his command the pillar of flames flared and coalesced into a more compact form, forcing a core of superheated fury. Brandishing his new weapon, Crevice leapt and struck, only for his target to disappear before his very eyes.

And reappear behind him.

"Fool." Came the mocking tone before Crevice felt the megaton force of the acolyte mouse's signature move slamming him straight down into the scared ground. As he laid there stunned, the smell of burnt metal and flesh seared away by the mouse's arcane might faintly reminded him of his carelessness. There was no reprieve however, for the standing of whatever hair he had still left on his back indicated that the mouse behind him was charging up for a final killing blow.

He has to act, and fast.

"NVMRC Forcefield, activate!"

The moment the energy blast came down, it impacted straight into an orange barrier causing it to flicker as the trap attempt to absorb and neutralise the lethal blow. It withstood no more than a few seconds before finally shattering and yet, that proved to be all the time that Crevice needed to strike back with his fiery blade. In a counter attack that the Lord of the Arcane did not see coming, fire effortlessly burned and cauterised its shoulder, causing the acolyte to roar in pain. There was a spike of panic followed by a blast of air and the mouse launched away from Zugzwang to put some distance between them.

"Damned human. I have had enough!" The Lord of Arcane snared, only to be returned by a weak grin.

"I didn't."

And the battle began anew.

* * *

All her tunes were being interfered no matter how she switched keys and melody and she had absolutely no traps she could use to help the struggling woman on the floor in front of her. All she could do was helplessly watch the wounded Cissilia wrestle with the Lord of Shadows as the mouse stabbed her again and again. She wanted to help, but she could not stop her tune lest she let the other Lord and his puppet become unoccupied. Jack Plankrun, even while controlled, proved why he was considered one of the best mouse-hunters of the kingdom, being able to anticipate and change tunes on the go without missing a beat.

He is her father after all, a part of her mind noted with pride.

And he is also the enemy right now.

Then, Catherine realised that her father had been slowly closing in on her position, with the acolyte on the other side blocking any way for retreat. Blowing his horn with just one hand, his ACRONYM was out and charged for a lethal blow of arcane energy, and it was aimed right at her.

Right when the music hit the crescendo, Catherine immediately changed to a fast, lively tune while she dodge-rolled out of the path of the fired blast. Instantly, her father changed his to match hers but was rudely interrupted when Catherine made use of her position to sweep-kick him off his feet. Snatching the opportunity, she quickly got back up and made a beeline for the one holding her father's strings.

"Acrohorn!"

The bell of the living horn opened up its jaws before loudly snapping down upon the acolyte mouse, but was stopped short when Catherine felt a pair of strong hands grabbing her waist and pulling her down to the ground again. She kicked out and was rewarded with a crack as her foot connect with her father's face. The vice-grip went slack for a moment, giving the girl time to dislodge herself from the hold.

"Sorry dad."

When she turned back to search for the mouse he was gone, having retreated back to a safer location.

"So," Catherine panted. "You can't really defend yourself after all."

"Astute deduction, but unfortunately it was too late."

That prompted Catherine to turn back, and met the full force of a punch from her father. That was not all however, for Jack Plankrun followed up by grabbing and lifting her from the ground. He reared his head back and slammed forward like a recoiled spring. The resulting head-butt knocked Catherine out cold.

Before she fainted clean away though, she noted that she could not hear Cissilia anymore.


	28. Chapter 28

**2Chapter 28: The Beginning of the End III**

"Squeak."

_I know, brother. Can you do it?_

"Squeak squeak squeak! Squeak!" The mouse anxiously waved its paw around before pointing out of the shadows at the two unmoving bodies beneath the Acolytes' feet. "Squeak!" Haiti finished with a determined stomp and flexed its muscles.

_I hope you are right._

_Then, on the count of three._

_One._

_Two._

"SQUEAK!" The tiny Hope mouse roared, charging out with its bottle swinging and followed by the ethereal green hue of the levitating Sylph mouse. Before the two Lords could catch their surprise, a tremendous gust of wind blew across the room stirring up gravel and sand. Through the localised sandstorm, furry feet worked furiously to bring Haiti to its targets where it then gave the two acolytes a solid smack to the head each that the bottle cracked from the impact and was promptly rewarded with a loud howl of pain. Dumping the weapon, the Hope mouse quickly melded back into the chaos and set about to its true objective even as a barrage of purple blasts came hurtling in its direction.

"I see you have taken the human's side." The Lord of Death spat. "The mouse of the wind, and of the earth."

"Gamma."

"There." The Lord of Shadows calmly stated, before vanishing in a puff of oily smoke. The shadows attacked in a flash and the wind died down with an ailing cry, bringing vision back to normal. Technically the best time to flee would be then but even while injured, the Sylph unflinchingly stayed to face the two most powerful mice ever head on.

"Sylph, I see that you brought Gnome here." The other acolyte swung his head sideways, as though trying to figure out where the latter who had attacked them would be. "Why, today might just become the day we genocide two entire races!"

_Your forgotten army had ruined enough, Acolyte. There are many who want vengeance against you, least of all the Gnomes._

"Hah!" Beta snorted. "You dare to talk, elemental mouse! When your kind refused to act against the pesky humans we merely did our job."

"Cleaning house." The Lord of Death hissed, just as the controlled Jack Plankrun sprang into action.

A powerful charge of the Acronym fired right towards the Sylph, only to splash into a shield of solid air. Sharp blades of wind sliced out of the shield as a counter attack which was immediately taken by the elder Plankrun head-on. As a controlled minion with no hindrances of pain, he charged through the cutting air without as much as batting an eyelid and slammed the living tower of magical fury right into the floating orb of air. For a second there, purple lightning arced as wind battled against the arcane, only for the shield to fail against the arcane might of the Acronym. The Sylph, without any more protection, was batted mercilessly to the floor. In an instant, the Lord of Shadows was by the wind mouse's neck with its blade at its throat.

"You never had a chance, Sylph." Gamma sneered from beneath his hood.

"Now tell us where Gnome went to."

The normally stoic mouse of the wind curled its mouth up into a wry smile.

_He went to ascend._

* * *

_Catherine._

Catherine woke up to the call of a familiar voice, albeit one she usually heard in another language.

"H… Haiti?"

She was back in her mind again, only this time with a brown glowing thing in front of her that was all of her field of vision for company instead of the Sylph. The spirit shook its head lightly in answer to her question before returning a gaze she thought she knew but not quite known.

_I am one of the Earth, last of the Gnomes. _It twirled and back-flipped, strangely reminiscent of the time she and Sylph were in the same situation.

_Haiti of Hope was just another me. Sorry for lying._

"It's… alright I guess." Even with another appearance and form it still had some measure of Haiti's overly-dramatic personality in it after all. Not that there was much to forgive, but Catherine would probably still forgive the mouse anyway especially with how cute it looked with its head bowed. With her affirmation of forgiveness, the earth mouse instantly reverted back to its usual cheer.

_Quick, you have to wake up now Catherine or you will die. Sylphy said he would distract them for me, but I don't know how long he will hold out. I had also bandaged granny over there so help her first!_

"Umm, don't I need to convince you of anything? Like what Sylph needed back then?"

_You had already convinced me plenty._

Then, the world fades back into light.

* * *

Fire exploded. Remnants of chaotic energies swirled about charred craters. Gears grinded and the golems began to roar, once again activated by the spill-over of the Trap's unholy power. In the backlight of the purple glow, two figures blurred as they manoeuvre around the clearing. Neither gave ground, for a single mistake would mean a terrible fate.

"I would ask you what you were trying to do, but I don't think you would tell, mouse."

The Acolyte smirked. "I told you I was waiting."

Crevice Zugzwang reared backwards from an impact point where an arcane blast struck, pulling his portal guns out at the same time to return fire. The hydraulics groaned in protest, the extra mechanical support from the Rhinobot frame was all that was between him and having his bones broken a hundred times over from the cruel laws of physics. Yet, the boy did not bat an eyelid from all the extreme stunts he was pulling, instead focusing fully on the battle at hand. There is something the Acolyte is up to, and he had to stop it. This was no longer personal, nor was it about Catherine Plankrun anymore. This involved something larger than the pride of his grandfather – the fate of the entire Gnawnian kingdom.

Could it be that the Acolyte mouse was waiting for the portal to be fully opened so that it could pass back into its realm? The True Onyx stone, or half of it, was in its hands, but what could it do with only half the power of the Master of the Dojo? The Trap of Infinity, while designed to fully nullify the powers of the Forgotten army, should be able to withstand half of that power. Unless…

Crevice's eyes widened from the realisation of what the mouse's true motives are, but was interrupted by a sudden pop of air filling a vacuum. Sharp pain racked his entire arm as the left gauntlet disintegrated from trying to absorb a blow from the mouse that had teleported above him for an overwhelming aerial blast. He barely withstood the arcane flay and when the attack faded he immediately countered by an upper trust of his Obelisk of Incineration only to swipe empty air.

"It seemed that you have figured something out, boy."

"I am smart." Crevice steadied himself and determined his adversary's new location. A smile crept across his face when he realised where it was.

_Gotcha._

"Zugzwang's Last Move, ACTIVATE!"

Across the battlefield, four pieces of chess figures sprang into life and instantly converged right at the spot where the Acolyte was currently standing with their weapons ready to strike. Startled by the sudden move the mouse had no choice but to dodge out of the way from the incoming attack, only for it to land right into the path of a charging Crevice. Slamming into his opponent with the full force of a growing boy and a Rhinobot, the descendent of Zugzwang thrust the entire length of his Sword of Incineration into the mouse's body and was promptly rewarded by a mouthful of burning rodent blood on his visor.

"Hello." Crevice scathingly said, before slashing five Explosive bases into the column of fire that was his blade and detonated them right at point blank of the back of a horrified Acolyte mouse, momentarily turning the whole Forbidden Grove into blinding white light.


	29. Chapter 29

**2Chapter 29: Beginning of the End IV**

"You accursed thing," The Lord of Arcane spoke through bloody teeth, "Forcing me to do this."

When the garish light of the explosion faded the swirling dust and debris revealed a towering abomination still standing right where the lethal blast detonated. What had been a rodent from before now stood an amalgamation of charred flesh, solid earth, tree roots and half a True Onyx stone. As if on cue, there was a sudden swipe of the monster's tentacle limb causing Crevice Zugzwang to take a powered step backwards, leaving his Sword of Incineration embedded in the mouse that should have been dead.

"This is cheating, Acolyte."

"Acrolyte." The mockery of nature corrected, before moving towards the boy at an inhumane speed. It took all of Crevice's reflexes to duck and even then the tip of his Rhino helmet detached itself after an arcane infused tentacle sliced past. That was not all, for the moment was what the abomination needed to knee Crevice in the abdomen and send him flying metres away.

"The power of the Onyx stone is in the non-living, human. But you won't understand this great power."

A giant leap later, the mouse-thing was in the air hurtling down towards the prone boy for a ground stomp.

"What do I – hrk" Blood spewed from Crevice's mouth as something inside audibly gave way. "- not understand."

It raised up its foot and slammed down once more. This time, the chest piece cracked.

"The immense control over the surroundings. The power to make those that should not be alive, live and those that should live," The tentacles gently peeled open the broken Rhinobot armour to expose the vulnerable flesh beneath.

"Dead."

It stretched one of its extended limb out towards the now fully operational Trap of Infinity and to Crevice's utmost horror, started to warp the metal unto itself. It was then Crevice realised what the Acolyte had been trying to do. Its goal was not to re-enter the Acolyte Realm in an attempt to go after Catherine, but to control the gate and force it to remain open forever. However, the gate was a product of his grandfather and Plankrun's geniuses. Would it hold or crumble to the might of the True Onyx stone?

Crevice Zugzwang was not about to find out, not even if it was only half of it.

"Any last words before I eat you?" The Acrolyte intoned, while it prepared to devour the boy with its remaining three limbs.

"I am sorry, Grandfather."

"What?"

A shrill whistle reverberated from the mouth of the heir of Zugzwang, slicing apart all four tentacle limbs of the mouse.

* * *

"Gnome!"

Catherine Plankrun blew her horn with all her might, and out came a note of earthen might. Pillars of sand rose from the ground in tandem with the blast, rippling towards the two Lord mice who had no choice to dodge out of the path.

"Sylph!" At the same time this happened, Catherine immediately discarded her horn and ran towards the wounded Cissilia on the ground, and yet her horn did not fall. Held in the air by the wind, the air currents blew through the living horn which then played itself, forming a tune of battle. Almost instantly, the horn of her father joined the piece to disrupt the music, only for it to die as quickly as it came when the sand carried the controlled Plankrun away and choked his hunter horn.

"Cissilia." Catherine shook the older woman. Good, the first aid was rushed, but did their job well in saving her life. "Are you okay?"

A groan escaped the woman's lips, which Catherine took as a yes.

"I need to shift you back to safety."

"N… no. " The older woman was straining herself to speak. "Take him out first."

A quick follow of her finger showed the Lord of Death swaying from side to side as it came out into the open, entranced by the horn's call. Cissilia was right, she should seize the opportunity to free her father and take down one of the Lords at once. Without any other weapon to use, she snatched Cissilia's flute and charged at the mouse with it held high above her head. Just as she was about to bash in the mouse's cranium, a shadow flitted and slammed into her, making them both tumble onto the ground.

There was a sharp pain as a knife embedded itself onto her side.

"Y-you … will not s-succeed." The Lord of Shadow snarled, visibly trying to resist the song. It withdrew the blade again for another strike, but was blocked by Catherine grabbing the knife with her bare hands.

"I. Will." It was all the conviction she said before she used all of her strength to stab through the Acolyte mouse with the flute in her other hand. A dying scream of disbelief rang throughout the chamber, dwarfing even the autonomic song the Acrohorn was playing. When that faded, the glimmer of life in the eyes underneath the hood of the Lord of Shadow too disappeared.

"Watch out!"

Catherine spun around at the warning, but was too late. The knife she held was fished out of her hand and the next moment, there was a sound of metal piercing flesh. Right in front of her, the lifeless eyes of her father glared, past the matted white hair of the Piperian who had somehow placed herself in between them.

"C-cissilia…" Catherine dumbly mouthed.

"It's alright, child." There was only calm acceptance upon the woman's features. "I am paying back my debt."

Then she went limp, her spark of life extinguished. From the sides, the Lord of Death revealed itself, the trance it was in broken during the interruption of the song when its brother died. It tried to laugh, but found itself too weak to do so and settled for a smirk instead.

"So, the last Piperian falls."

Catherine ignored the mouse snide remarks, instead opting to embrace both her father and Cissilia's body.

"Awww. Such a sweet… what?" The acolyte turned at the sudden presence, and was greeted by rows of menancing sharp teeth. "Oh crap."

Jack Plankrun immediately moved to help his master, only to be restrained by Catherine Plankrun's vice-grip. Before he managed to break away from his daughter's hug, it was all the time the Acrohorn needed to enclose its jaws around the Lord of Death and devour it completely. Like a puppet with its string cut, Jack collapsed onto the floor along with the other two female where they remained for a long long while.


	30. Chapter 30

**2Chapter30 – End**

Another shrill whistle called out, and the Sword of Incineration buried within the mouse-thing's chest exploded into a fiery inferno. The intense flames seared through the Acrolyte's root joints and baked the earthen limbs into hard clay. In an instant, the fearsome stature of the mouse-onyx stone hybrid crumbled as its support gave way, the Lord of Arcane screaming all the way.

"DAMN YOU HUMAN! DAMN YOU!" It cursed, as it buried its broken body into the ground in an attempt to rebuild it with the stone's power of animation. Dead roots and stone immediately tore themselves from the earth to fuse with the abomination and grotesquely twine about to imitate living muscles, but Crevice was not about to let that happen. Disengaging from the now broken Rhinobot armour, he limped his way towards the like-wise incapacitated mouse, whistling a strange tune throughout the way. A tentacle finished repairing itself and the Acrolyte sent it straight at the boy. A loud slap sounded when the boy batted it away with his bare hand before an invisible sword too severed the newly grown limb. It was then the mouse hybrid saw clearly a swirling fuzz of condensed white energy revolving the very same hand the mousehunter used. Fear wrote itself into the Acrolyte's face when it realised what the boy was trying to achieve, but there was nothing it could do to prevent what would be its impending doom.

"Any last words?" Crevice Zugzwang ironically echoed, the blood flowing down his face doing little to cover the cold eyes staring into the Acrolye's own. There was never any plan for Crevice to let it answer though, for the next moment the boy plunged his hand into where the heart of the Acrolyte would be and drew out a pulsating half piece of a stone of the darkest night.

The True Onyx stone, a stone with the power to make the non-living live and the living, dead. Without it, the unholy fusion of mouse and earth fell apart, never to move again.

Crevice gave out a sigh of relief. The battle was a close one, one that he could only have won because he still had an ace up his sleeves – his magical heritage. Without that, he could never had survived nor would he be able to remove the Acrolyte' s source of power and yet if he had gone full magic from the start, the battle would not have turned out this way either. All in all, it boiled down to a whole lot of pure dumb luck, something the woman called Catherine Plankrun would be more suitable for. Speaking of which, how is he supposed to carry on from here? The gate is still opened, though he feared not for much longer, and he had the stone, but no indication was given as to what he should do next. The Acolyte had intended to use the stone to manipulate the Trap of Infinity into opening, but if he had to become freak of nature to do so, then there is no way in hell Crevice Zugzwang will stoop to that level. He could pass through the gate, but that would beg the question of how to get back.

All of a sudden, the heavy double barrelled doors creaked and gate began to slowly close.

"Oh… no…"

* * *

"Dad… are you okay?" Catherine asked the battered man who was holding her up and supporting her across the vast expense of the desert spanning the Acolyte Realm. Half of her father's injuries were due to her after all.

"I am fine, sweetie. Although my nose felt broken for some reason…" Jack Plankrun replied to his daughter's concern, blissfully unaware of what had transpired earlier. Catherine too had not elaborated on the details, much less said that she was the one who broke his nose.

"I am your father. With you around, I can do anything."

They were inching closer to the place Catherine emerged into when she first arrived. In the distance, they could see a glowing purple door of pure light shimmering against the backdrop of the desert sand. Surprisingly, the usual mob of spectre and wight mice was gone. In fact, the whole place seemed empty of rodents after she had killed both Acolyte mice within the Piperian castle. It could have been primal fear of the one who defeated their leader or it was just plain coincidence, but frankly Catherine could not care. She was almost to freedom.

Until the door started to flicker and dissolve.

"Quick, we must hurry." Came her father's anxious voice and two of them doubled their footsteps. They had returned Cissilia's body to the survivors at the Astronomy tower and even extended the offer to escape to them only to be faced with rejection.

"Thank you, but we need to mourn." Was their reply and Jack Plankrun actually gave them hell over their resignation to stay but nothing could change their minds. Could this delay have been the few minutes they needed at the current moment to reach their goal in time? It was a moot point because it took no longer than seconds for the door to fully disintegrate and when the two of them finally reached the location, there was nothing left and only sand behind. This was what they had meant by it being impossible to escape. The gate from this side was too unstable for the portal to remain corporeal for any substantial time for anything to pass. Her grandfather did not build any trap of the sort on this side after all.

Jack Plankrun sighed.

Catherine Plankrun however, felt a tiny pulse of energy from her possessions.

* * *

Crevice Zugzwang knelt in front of the closed doors, nothing he had done that could stop or even delay the closing of the Trap of Infinity. Even the arcane arts his grandfather had taught him could not override the powerful magicks placed within the metal doors of this absolute mousetrap.

He slammed his fist into the ground in frustration. He had to come back another time when the gate is open, but how much time would have passed by then? Judging on what Spring had said, the reckless crazy woman was already in there for much longer than he thought. Catherine Plankrun might have a lot of luck, but the other side was a realm fraught with danger she could not possibly survive on her own. Yet, there was nothing he could do for her.

Nothing.

Crevice moved to pick himself up in defeat, but abruptly stopped by a new development. The other half of the True Onyx Stone was pulsating when it had been deactivated after its removal from the abomination's body.

"This is resonating with the Trap?"

He held the stone out in the direction of the gate, and was rewarded by the stone pulsing even stronger than before as though it was approving of Crevice's action. He could feel the power emanating off the stone in waves, its desire to be reunited whole growing stronger every passing second.

Reunited… whole.

"Crevice," Said a familiar female voice coming from beyond the gate. "You are there right?"

"Yes." He found himself saying.

He understood at once. Holding out his half of the True Onyx stone at his front, Crevice Zugzwang pressed the stone into the gate. A clash of purple and green light washed over him, the energies of the arcane and the stone merging and mixing and ultimately rejecting each other. He held on regardless, even as he felt the place fell apart around him and the power threatened to consume him whole. He held on until he felt the stone he was holding change from pulsing erratically to calm systematic waves of power. Then, a soft feminine hand held his and Crevice Zugzwang pulled.

With all his might, he pulled out a girl who was worse for wear, followed closely by an older man who had his nose bent in a funny shape. The momentum was too much, and the two youngster tumbled onto the ground

"Gah! Damn you woman!" The boy shrieked as he tried to disentangle himself from the mess.

"Crevice!" Catherine Plankrun exclaimed in delight and proceeded to hug him tightly.

"Get off me!"

Meanwhile, Jack Plankrun brushed himself down and bent forward to pick up the True Onyx stone, now made whole. The horn used to make the Acrohorn laid beside it, twisted and destroyed from the force generated when the two halves recombined. He then surveyed the blasted clearing around him, especially the fractured doors of the gate that they had traversed. The Trap of Infinity had finally been broken.

It seemed that they would have much to do ahead of them.

"Kids," He gave a gentle smile to both his daughter and the charming young man tussling with each other, earning their attention.

"Let's go home."

"Let's." Catherine grinned, holding a hand out to the grumbling Crevice which he took with a small but genuine smile.

**End Arc 2**


End file.
